What's Up Wednesday

What's Up Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Jaime Morrow and Erin Funk.  Head over to Jaime's page for links to find out what's up with everyone else. Here's what's up with me.
What Else I've Been Up To

It's been a while since I've posted anything, so I figured I'd start with the general "what I did last summer" answer first. I became a mom!

I am adopting two wonderful children. They are technically foster kids at this point, but DHS has selected us as their forever family. They came home at the beginning of August. Being a full time mom for a full month of summer was very tiring, but also super fun. Now the kids are in school (kindergarten and 2nd grade), so I have a little bit of free time to think about blogging again.

What I'm Reading

I haven't read a single book alone since meeting my kids, but I've been reading A LOT of stories to the kids. I filled both kids rooms with lots of books, and we've been making regular trips to the library. On her very first night home, my daughter spotted Diary of a Wimpy Kid  on her shelf and insisted on making it the first bedtime story in her new house. We're now half-way through book three. It's a very fun series, and I completely understand why so many kids love these books.

What I'm Writing

I haven't even had time to update my blog in over a month, I really haven't been doing any writing. Fortunately, I did a lot of writing last spring. As a result, my second novel, The Evolution of Emily is coming out on November 18th.

Here is the back of the book teaser.

Emily Charles knows how to run away. Away from her overprotective, agoraphobic mother. Away from her biology-obsessed, autistic sister. Away from her quiet sheltered claustrophobic homeschooled life. When Emily's escape plan involves starting her junior year at Kennedy High School, she realizes she's no longer running away. Now she's running towards. Towards her quiet thoughtful cross-country teammate, August. Towards her zany enthusiastic lab partner, Miles. Towards friendship, love, independence, and life.

Thanks to her sister's special interest in biology, Emily knows all about the birds and the bees. Boys are a lot more confusing!

Readers who enjoyed Counting to D won't want to miss Scott's second title, also set at Kennedy High School.

I am expecting a case full of ARCs to arrive at my door sometime next week. So if you want an advanced copy, I'm on the lookout for reviewers.

What Inspires Me Right Now

My kids. I love everything about these two little people, but I especially love reading with them. My little guy has been in kindergarten for less than a week, and he's right on the brink of reading. I love watching him sound out simple words, and I love it when he grabs a giant stack of picture books and begs me to read every single one.

I'm really proud of the fact that I can tell me kids that for my job, I write books. My seven year old daughter is already begging to read Counting to D. It says it's for ages 13 and up on the back of the book, but I told her I'd let her read it early, when she is 11. Maybe I'll have to hop genres and write a MG book sometime.

Now that I'm a mom, I'm starting to hope my cute little kids never grow up and turn into the type of angsty teenagers I write about.


So what's up with you?