Last Sunday, April 18, I was lucky enough to be a part of a YA book club event that involved Kami Garcia and Margie Stohl, the co-authors of Beautiful Creatures, my absolute favorite book of 2009. It was held in the Glendale Borders, which was a bit of a drive for me, especially since there was traffic the entire way. I believe there were a couple of sporting events going on, but I couldn't tell you what since sports is German to me.
Anyway, I arrived a few minutes early and found where the discussion was being held, settled in, and Kami got off to a great discussion. She answered our questions and fired them back at us. She was fantastic to talk to.
Margie arrived a bit later. (That sports traffic got to her too.) The way she and Kami interact with each other is amazing. You can tell they truly are the best of friends. They told us how they met, which shocker involved books. Kami was Margie's children's third grade teacher and she had an amazing library for her students. Margie liked it so much that they together made sure all of the student's in different classes had a library that was up to Kami's standards.
They told us about crazy squirrels, Bo Jangles fried chicken, the South, a teeny tiny bit about the new book Beautiful Darkness (see the countdown on the sidebar for how many days reminaining until it's October release date), and we were shown covers of different countries Beautiful Creature editions. We talked about how important setting is and supporting characters. I expressed my love for Link and Ridley. I so hope they are ALL over Beautiful Darkness.
After they entertained us for about an hour and a half, it was time to actually meet them. I was pleasantly surprised they recognized me from twitter, considering they have many followers. Kami's husband had been photographing the whole afternoon, and he snapped a picture of us. I'm hoping it's floating around somewhere so I can get a copy of it.
The day couldn't have gone better. I am renewed in my own writing. Kami and Margie inspired me to pick it back up. The way they "broke" the writing rules, and work in a way that suits them, is refreshing to hear. There isn't one particular way to go about telling a good story. You do what works best for you and I think that's the best thing they instilled in me that day. Never be afraid to write the way you want to write or to tell the story you want to tell. Be yourself. Be a Beautiful Creature.
I think something spooky may have been afoot at Disneyland.
He's creepy crawly and the best deal I've ever found at HomeGoods, and that's saying something!
Jack has been with me for a few years now, but Polly was a recent addition. She used to have a healthy palor and blue eyes and now... well she's a bit dead.
I'm so jealous she doesn't have to worry about tanning in that crazy bright Southern California sun. Me? I need SPF 100, which as of this year, comes in spray on! Wahoo!
This looked seriously wicked in real life, and in the photo? It's sort of average. Oh well, I still like it! Store bought pumpkin with no bottom, light fixture that is in my apartment complex near my area of grass, and a bit of super stretchy spiderweb. Instant spookiness! Thank God my landlords let me reak havoc on every inch of land that could be possibly considered mine (or mine and my nice neighbors).
These are some photos from my Witches Cabinet from Halloween last year. If I had my way, I'd keep it up year round and incorporate some real spices and such in it.
It's really odd looking at it all on here, but I moved it around nearly daily. A witch would actually use her cabinet of mysterious goodies, wouldn't she? 
Things have been really out of control lately, so a reminder of Halloween's past and future help get through it all.