Moving (check), Launch tour (check), Blogfest (check)...OYVEY!

This is not my normal Monday blog post, but there’s good reason for that.  This Friday, I will be flying my son down from Seattle to Arizona State University near Phoenix, and on Sunday, we’ll move him into his residence hall.  Yes, after 2 years of researching schools, college fairs and tours, applications, and essays, it’s all come down to this.  

May I say how stressed out I am, especially since I have to do it alone,

without my husband’s help?

 

Yeah. Super-über mondo-stressed.

Mind you, ASU is the largest public university in the entire US.  That’s nearly 70,000 students, most of whom attend the beautiful one-square-mile Tempe campus, where my son will be living.  So far, we’ve UPS’d one huge box down to his hall, at great cost, too.  The rest will be packed and fly with us. Thank God Southwest Airlines doesn’t charge for checked bags!  Needless to say, I’ve been a busy mama.  So while I don’t have the time to dwell over a thoughtful blog post, I do have time for a few announcements.  

First, my dear friend, Jennifer Hillier, has just released her second novel, Freak.  Though it stands alone on its own merits, it’s also a sequel to her debut novel, Creep, which came out last summer.  (I loved that book, by the way!)  I ordered a hard copy of Freak so Jenny can sign it when I see her at BoucherCon 2012 in October.  I was excited enough just to get my copy, but then I opened it up and saw that she had mentioned me in her acknowledgements.  Yes, more than a few tears sprang to my eyes.  Thank you, Jenny!

Second, after receiving another update from Goodreads, where I noticed one more add to another reader’s TBR list (thank you Lynda R. Young,) I saw that Lisa Regan had updated her review of my book, The Mistaken.  This update has a lot of depth and detail and is not simply a rehashed synopsis.  She shares what she loved most about my story and what she feels makes it special.  My humble thanks, Ms.Regan!  

Next, with my book’s release a short 2 months away, I’m frantically getting ready for my blog tour.  Besides the one arranged by Sapphire Star Publishing, (who, by the way, has a shiny new website) I have my own tour looming ahead.  That’s 15 guest posts and interviews I have to compose.  I’ve already written 10 of them, but I have 5 new additions that came up last week.  (Thanks to those of you who asked me to guest post.)  So yeah, I’m a bit swamped at the moment. 

I did, however, want to mention a couple of other events coming up, like Alex J. Cavanaugh’s Genre Favorites Blogfest on September 17, 2012.  One blogfest, four favorites!  Simply list your favorite genre of:  movie, music, books, and a guilty pleasure genre from any of the three categories!  Alex hosts the best parties, so if you want to participate and meet new people, click here for the latest info.  

Also, on Tuesday, August 21^st, my friend, neighbor, and fellow writer, Angela Orlowski-Peart, will reveal the cover for her new YA paranormal novel, Forged By Greed, set for release in September.  Angela will be my guest that day while we celebrate this important event.

And lastly, I’d like to thank Karen Elizabeth Brown for nominating me for the Liebster Award.  Though I’ve done this award before, it could use some updating, so I’ll try to post about it sometime in the near future. 

Whew!  Can I take a breath now?

Oh yeah, right…I have to go finish packing.

*sigh*

So what have you all been up to this summer?

Busy Girl!

It’s been a very busy time for me lately.  First, I had to deal with my edits.  Though I was very fortunate not to have that many, I still had a hard time with the few I did have.  That took time away from my blogging responsibilities, and so I apologize for being remiss with my reading and commenting over the last two weeks.  I was trying to get caught up when I received my proof from my publisher.  This is the PDF file formatted for printing 6 x 9 hard copies, and I needed to read it one last time for errors.  UGH! 

On top of all that writerly stuff, we have a big event in our family today, Monday June 11^th.  My seventeen-year-old son is graduating high school!!  YAY!! 

Yeah, you’d think this was news to celebrate, but he doesn’t even want to attend his own graduation ceremony.  I do understand where he’s coming from.  He hasn’t been to class there for two years as he’s been attending the local college full-time since the beginning of his junior year.  Plus, he’s never been overly fond of the school or students.  Let’s just say we live in an upscale community full of equally upscale people and leave it at that.  But still, I’m his mother and I want to see him graduate, though I think having the ceremony at Safeco Field where the Seattle Mariners play major league baseball is a bit much.  But whatever.

Even though he graduates on Monday, he still has class at the college until Thursday June 14th.  Within two hours of his last final exam, he and I will jump on a plane and jet off to Phoenix, Arizona to attend his freshman orientation and class registration at ASU in Tempe.  Talk about an abrupt transition!  WHOA!!  

We are both very excited about this trip (though I'm not looking forward to the heat.)  Since he won’t be bringing his car down, I want to spend some time familiarizing him with the public transportation so, come Thanksgiving and Christmas, he can find his way from campus to Sky Harbor International Airport.  Lucky for us, Phoenix has a wonderful light rail system that’s connected to the ASU campus. 

Can you tell I’m not quite ready to let him go yet?  I have only two months to get my head on straight about releasing him into the big bad world.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m thrilled.  I’m just gonna miss the hell out of him.  And seriously, I do not know what his father is going to do once he leaves.  It’ll be a huge transition for all of us.

Anyway, since I have so much to do for graduation and the trip to Arizona, I won’t be around very much.  I’ll still have my phone and my tablet so I can troll the blogs in my down time, but I might be a bit scarce.  I’ll return on Tuesday of next week and hopefully get back to all my favorite bloggy friends.  

What are your plans for the summer?  Any big trips?

Have kids going off to college like I do?

Wanna hold my hand while I cry?

Oh, and if you’re on Goodreads, don’t forget to add my book,

The Mistaken, to your TBR list.  Thanks!!