Still here. Typing.

This is going to be one of those fail posts where someone says, “Hi, sorry I haven’t been here; I’m going to not be here again.”

Some points of relevance:

The house is…interesting.  The moment one room becomes normal and pleasant, another room becomes a pit of hell (no light, no plaster, no furniture…and, in Sparkler’s bedroom’s case, one big hole in the floor).  We do have a working kitchen, however, with a double sink and a multi-function oven (with a turbo grill that does fantastic roast beef).

My deadline for Linked the Sequel is three weeks away.  I am nearly nearly there.  The book is mostly in its second-draft form, and I’m on either the last chapter or the penultimate chapter even as I speak.  I won’t know what to do when I’m not on deadline any more!

Linked has sold foreign rights to Germany, Romania, Brazil, and Quercus in the UK.  I had the nicest conversation with my new UK editor last week, and she mentioned the possibility of tours and school visits and festivals – how cool is that?  I’m beyond thrilled that Linked is going to have a UK release – I’ve been hoping for that cherry on the cake ever since the North American rights sold to Simon & Schuster.

Work is busy busy busy.  I’ve picked up a little more editing work, working with an author who I used to work with a few years ago.  I’m very excited and will reveal who it is later!

In domestic news, Sparkler had her sixteenth birthday, Gloworm has moved into her new room (totally new – in February it didn’t even exist), and Willow the cat has forgiven us for putting her out to board while the house was being pulled to pieces in early April.