SACRED BOOK TRAILER

As I've said before, I've been eyebrow-deep in revisions this summer.  In the days leading up to sending a revision off to one of my editors, I tend to pull back from my online life a bit, focus only on my pages. 

After hitting "send" this morning, I headed out into the YA blogosphere to discover that Elana K. Arnold's book trailer for her debut YA, SACRED, has just gone live.

I love this one...simple, beautifully filmed, and it manages to accomplish what is so tricky about a trailer: boiling the book down into images that only last a minute, offering just enough info that you're intrigued, but not so much that (unlike movie trailers) you get the feeling you now know everything just by watching the video.

To learn more, visit Elana's website.  Pre-order on Amazon.

LOST

I've been juggling revisions all summer long, which is like being in heaven for me.  I love revision.  Talking love here.  Love.  It's so easy for me to walk into my office and get lost in the process.  And I mean lost.  I'm talking, "Wait.  What day is it again?" kind of lost.

Every once in a while, I'm reminded (usually by an insistent round of barking) that I need to get outside and knock the cobwebs off.  A few scenes from my latest get-outta-the-house jaunt, at the Finley River in nearby Ozark:

My dog, Jake, is always sooooo glad when the computer screen finally goes black...

...and we walk near the Finley...

...and check out the skies.  I'm telling you, Missouri has the best skies.  

And the sunsets aren't bad, either.

CELEBRATE

Mmmmm.  Dog cake.

This year, my pup's birthday fell just as I was wrapping up my first round of revisions for my forthcoming YA, FERAL, so it seemed a bit like a double celebration.  (Yep, I celebrate my dog's birthday every year, as well as the anniversary of the day he came home with us...How can you not celebrate the creature who brings so much joy into your life???)

It was an evening of dog cake and ice cream new toys...and I'd say, judging by his expression, that Jake was more than pleased:

That's the face of sheer bliss, folks.

SIGNS OF LIFE (FERAL ON GOODREADS!)

Even with the persistent drought in Missouri, we still managed to grow a couple of flowers...Seems so funny that those flowers were glads, since that was exactly how we felt to see them!

Here they are, up close and personal, Georgia O'Keeffe style:

...Speaking of signs of new life, my latest YA, FERAL, recently popped up on Goodreads!  (It just always feels like a book is a living breathing entity when it starts to show up for discussion and / or purchase online...)  Be sure to put it on your TBR list!

CRUNCHY

Thought I'd take you all on a stroll through my lovely backyard...Turn up your volume for this one:



...Ahhh...August in Missouri...