I’ve never really been a fan of Halloween—not as an adult, at least. I don’t stand at the door and dispense candy to the local trick-or-treaters; instead I place a box of books outside and collect whatever’s left an hour later. This year I’ll hopefully have copies of THE WITCH OF THE WOODS to share with my neighbors’ kids. Purple designed the cover and I think it’s fantastic! We’re almost done with the illustrations and I did a final round of edits to the text earlier today. We’re sending Halloween vibes with the spiders and spooky forest, but the witch in my story is actually running a secret seed bank underground (hobbit style!) Stay tuned for the release date. I’ve been invited to read it for story time at a new arts space on the South Side—on my birthday! Hopefully the happy ending will soothe any anxiety the wee ones might experience over the sick infant and dead bird decomposing in the forest…