Embracing Austin

It's kind of funny, after our vacation in NYC I realized just how crowded, congested and well, dirty, New York can be. So I decided to stop lamenting the fact that I live in Texas and really embrace Austin. Even the heat, which is no easy thing. My family and I went hiking and swimming at the Barton Creek greenbelt, visited the Blanton Art Museum, went shopping on South Congress, and saw Bob Schneider at Antone's. We had a fabulous time!

I also spoke to adults, yes adults, at the August SCBWI meeting, which I think went well. At least I hope it did. The topic was Turning Fact to Fiction, and instead of blabbing about how I wrote my books from true life experiences I had the group do some writing exercises. Ha, ha. First, they had to list three little-know facts about themselves. (One woman volunteered that she had once set off a roman candle in her kitchen.) Next, they had to list three of their darkest life experiences. And last, I posed a thought provoking question: who is your personal censor? I got some interesting responses.

I also updated my website - actually revamped the whole thing - and even though I wanted to shoot myself during the process, it's ultimately rewarding to be my own webmaster. And now, today is the first day of school! I'm free again! Back to work.

Oh, almost forgot. Saturday I had a book signing at B&N in Round Rock and had the honor of meeting one of my myspace friends - a very nice, very sweet teenage girl from Georgetown who enjoyed my books! Afterward, Korina and I had lunch with Cyn and Greg. It turned out to be a really nice day.