Keeping Busy

Now what?, originally uploaded by marinaomi.

I've been up to a whole lot of busy work lately. Important busy work (responding to my publisher's needs, preparing for readings, having art shows, working on my next book, commissions, etc.), but what is truly on my mind is the March 15 release date of Kiss & Tell.

Thank goodness my tour with Sister Spit begins the very next day. Traveling cross-country for an entire month with a group of writers should be a good distraction from the nerves that will most certainly be blooming in spring colors as K&T unfurls its wings and flies into the arms of strangers and old acquaintances. As the public learns the intimate details of my formative years, I'll be reading these scenes aloud, mostly to college students, people who might have experienced similar things, only not so long ago.

Already I'm getting feedback from people who have read the galleys. Each time someone contacts me and says they enjoyed it, I get a thrill up my spine of both happiness and relief. It's already out there, in smaller numbers than what will eventually be, but every so often it's as if I can feel someone's eyes on my past, soaking it in, maybe judging, hopefully laughing.

As grateful as I am to have work to do in the meantime, it's been difficult to focus on these other tasks. I am positively brimming with excitement and nervousness, counting down the moments until it's out there. Less than four months to go!