Breathe.

I keep having to remind myself to breathe. I don't really know what happened to my lovely beach vacation where this was half a block away

and I saw dolphins swimming almost every day and rode my bike to the farm stand for watermelons that were addictive and drippy and perfect.

Oh, right, I know. IRENE happened. First she chased us out of town, mandatory evacuation, which would've been a lot worse had it not happened a day before our trip was due to end. But then she made us scramble back to New York to buy sandbags and barricade the apartment and shop for the apocalypse for what turned out to be basically a long rain storm.

So, I'm back. To reality. A reality that includes selling our apartment (yay) and buying a new place a whole block away (I will have an office, with a door that locks, and a fire-breathing dragon who blocks the door against any and all interlopers under five feet). Which is all yay, but also a massive amount of yikes. And paperwork.

And I have a book to write. A new book, a new two books in fact, the first of which will come out in about a year and a half but thanks to the craziness of publishing, I owe a draft in December. I will have the official announcement soon but I will tell you this: It's about a girl. And a guy. Who meet while traveling. And fall in love. Or do they? And then some stuff happens that I won't tell you about.

Anyhow, you know how obsessed I was with music and that sort of filtered its way into IF I STAY and WHERE SHE WENT? Well, I'm equally obsessed with travel. Don't believe me? Go here. And that's all over these books. And kissing. And heartbreak. And self discovery. And the magic that happens every day in real life, by chances taken, opportunities lost, connections missed. Connections made. Oh, and a guy so hot that some of you might switch your allegiance from TEAM ADAM.

Speaking of TEAM ADAM, the buttons. They are going into production THIS WEEK. And I know many of you (like, um 40) have free books coming. Along with the buttons. I will get to this. It'll just take time. Be patient. Because in addition to writing this new book, I have to research it (trip to Paris coming soon. French readers stay tuned for some sort of public event the first weekend in October). And you know, take care of my kids, who don't start school for another two weeks. All while calling lawyers and mortgage brokers and house inspectors.

Breathe.

Anyone have a paper bag handy?

Also, on top of all this excitingness/anxiety/insomnia, I have some upcoming events to tell you about, and lord knows when I'll get around to updating my events page.

September 18th is the Brooklyn Book Festival. I love my hometown literary festival and I'm especially excited to be on a panel with Jacqueline Woodson and Cory Doctorow. I don't have the specific dets yet but I'll keep you posted.

And then, for all your Southern folk the weekend of November 12th, I'll be taking part in the YALLFest, the Charleston Young Adult Book Festival. I'm going to be there with a whole host of awesome authors, and also my brother and his family, who live there. I plan to represent Team Contemporary with pride. I still have my t-shirt.

There are other things too. Like back-to-school orientations and back-to-school shopping to find the exact correct type of folder/pen/scissor and let us not forget the Odyssey for the Perfect Backpack, now going into its sixth week. But you don't want to think about that. I don't want to think about that. So much nicer to think about Paris.

Breathe.

Okay, that's all for a while. Forgive me if the blog stays quiet for a bit, but you know what I'm doing and who I'm doing it for. And I'll let you know about the TEAM ADAM buttons as soon as they come off the presses. Or whatever they use to make buttons.

Over and out.

xx