What's Doin' in July--An Abridged List

Want a peek at my July calendar? Sure you do! Here's a glimpse of what I'll be up to this month.

Tomorrow, July 7 (and every Wednesday night until August 25) -- Teaching an Intro to YA writing class at Mediabistro! Absolutely love getting neck-deep in the creative process with smart, talented, and dedicated people. I also have the honor and privilege of hosting marvelous guest speakers at my class. The line-up for this season is: Judy Goldschmidt, Chris Krovatin, Mandy Hubbard, Holly Root, Molly O'Neill, and Dan Ehrenhaft. I'll also be teaching another course in the fall, starting on September 16--click here if you're interested in signing up.

July 8 -- Lunch with Krista Marino, former colleague and Executive Editor extraordinaire at Delacorte Press. Krista edits a slew of bestselling YA novelists, including Carrie Ryan, Michael Scott, and James Dashner, and she is a kick-butt friend as well. We'll most likely catch-up over huge summer salads and talk lots of shop and discuss something pop culture related, like whether or not the world should totally give up on LiLo. Can. Not. Wait!

July 10 -- Bachelorette party for my good pal Lindsey Moore, who runs an amazing indie theater company called No Tea Productions. Her and her fiance Jeff (an actor/playwright in the company) are getting married after being together for a few years. I wish I could go into the details more--because they are, in fact, AWESOME--but it's supposed to be a surprise. So I will report back next week and tell you all about it, promise!

July 11 -- Preparing for more promotion of Romeo & Juliet & Vampires, via my blog and new website! I'm so thrilled with the redesign, and excited that in a few short weeks, the book will be OUT THERE. Okay, make that excited and scared. Eep!

July 15 -- Two words: GREASE SING-A-LONG! Mega props to my best bud Priscilla for finding out about this, because if I had missed it, I might never have been able to recover emotionally. Watch out, AMC VILLAGE on 66 3rd Ave--we are going to hand-jive the roof off the place!

July 17 -- Lindsey and Jeff's wedding. Cue the harp strings and flying doves? Actually, more like cue the shadow puppets and interpretive dance. (That just means Lindsey and Jeff have their own unique, nontraditional way of doing things--for instance Lindsey's maid of honor is a man, and Jeff's best man is a woman.)

July 21 -- Vacation in Pentwater, Michigan. Ben's family has a beautiful cottage right off the shore of Lake Michigan. It's nestled on top of a sand dune and you have to take a tram to get up there. The views are spectacular, and the weather is fantastically mild in the summer.

I went there last year and we had an unforgettable trip. We went to a fish boil, held a party on a couple of pontoon boats, sang around a bonfire, and ate our faces off every single day. Counting the days until I get there!

July 29 -- SCBWI Los Angeles conference! This is my first time to the event and I couldn't be more psyched about it. Everyone says what great fun this conference is and FINALLY I'll get to experience it firsthand. You can find the schedule here, and of course I'll give you the skinny when I return. I'm sure I will have lots of inspiring and amusing stories to share!