Scattered Jules

On the way home from CONduit, it was raining. Insane raining. And the car in front of me spun out and off the road, taking out a speed limit sign (those things are useless anyway), a guard rail, and a fence. I hurried to pull off the road to see if everyone in the car was okay. I ran through the tall wet blades of grass to find that the window had been blown out of the car and a bleeding arm hung limply out of the window. Blood dripped down the fingertips and onto the ground.

I blinked the rain out of my eyes and had a moment of panic. I have no life saving skills. I can’t resurrect a once beating heart with cpr. I can’t do mouth to mouth unless we’re talking about kissing, and I certainly don’t know the first thing about cuts and bleeding. When the arm moved, I almost screamed. Instead I yelled out, “Are you okay?”

The young driver wasn’t dead, but looked pretty shell shocked. He scrambled out of the car on the other side since his side was thrashed and the door no longer opened. I had him sit in my car where it was warm, dry and glass free while we waited for the police. After my initial shock of seeing blood, I realized the kid’s cuts were all surface–ugly, but non  life threatening. I figured keeping him talking would be the best thing to do so I asked where he was going. Sheepishly, he said, “I know it sounds kinda nerdy, but I was going to play some RPG with my friends.” RPG means role playing games.

I grinned. “Well, it sounds kinda nerdy but I’m just coming home from spending a weekend at a fantasy/science fiction convention.”

So that’s how I gained  a new friend.

The CON was great! I loved getting to be with my fav people. I’d start name dropping on how I know way cool people, but you all already know that Lee Modesitt, Jessica Day George, James Dashner(who is new york right now and he didn’t even invite me!), Aprilynne Pike (who hit number one on the NYT list–Congrats Aprilynne!), Mette Ivie Harrison, Jaime Thelar, Howard Tayler and his beautiful wife Sandra are all my friends. Oh wait . . . did I say I wasn’t going to name drop? Karen Hoover was a great roommate. And the ah-ha moment of the weekend was the realization of how much I love these people. LOVE them. And am grateful for the many things they are in my life. It might be kinda nerdy, as the car accident victim said, but I love hanging out at science fiction and fantasy conventions.

It is official that Eyes Like Mine ships to bookstores on July first. I am planning my launch party and will post more info when I have it, but I am so excited to see this book become a reality. My editor is awesome . . . have I mentioned that yet today?

And I finished the first chapter of my new novel. It kicks butt. I am beyond thrilled with this new book. There is a perfect amount of conflict, humor, adventure, and romance. I love it when I know where is a story is going right from the beginning.

AND I’ve been working a lot, writing a lot, and volunteering for a lot so if I seem to be missing online, don’t call the police to start searching for the body. It’s just buried under a heavy pile of have-to-do. Happy writing and reading everyone!

At the storymaker conference we decided to add some entertainment and give the attendees a music video. Heather  Moore and Crystal Liechty wrote the lyrics and Stephanie Fowers did the filming. It is hilarious! You’ll note there is a scene where I look like I’m having a seizure. It’s a good reminder to never get silly when someone has a camera rolling.
I hope you have as much fun watching it as we did in the creation.

It’s mother’s day, and I’d like to wish all the women out there who influence children for the better a happy day. Mother’s day has not always been my fav day of the year. In fact, for many years I’ve shunned the entire month of May for miscreant reasons of my own. But I’m trying to do better if only for the fact that I love my kids and love being a mother and if I have to endure a day where I wonder how much I fall short, then so be it. I’ve including a little video here:

Have a great day to ladies everywhere!