This November, I’m taking part in an EPIC meeting of YA literature’s finest down in Charleston, South Carolina: YALLFest.

And I mean EPIC. Check out this author list:

Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl, David Levithan, Melissa de la Cruz, Heather Brewer, Gayle Forman, Kaleb Nation, Ellen Hopkins, Andrea Cremer, Beth Revis, Carrie Ryan, Isaac Marion, Sarah Rees Brennan, Kimberly Derting, Adele Griffin, Lisa Brown, Victoria Schwab, Michelle Hodkin, Kwame Alexander, Rosemary Clement-Moore, Saundra Mitchell, Diana Peterfreund, Caitlin Kittredge, Pseudonymous Bosch, and more!

On Friday there’s going to be master classes and roundtables. There are going to be SEVEN hourly panels with three authors each on Saturday, as well as booksignings, micro-fiction contests, live music, and lots of food, prizes, and other delights.

It’s all happening November 11 and 12, 2011 — so mark your calendars and get yourself down to South Carolina!

Here’s the current (not detailed — I’ll come back as soon as the final is posted) schedule.

PS: I *will* be giving away an ARC of For Darkness Shows the Stars there.

Hello again. It’s Rio, back on blog duty since it’s STILL RAINING and honestly, a girl can only gnaw on her tail and nap on the couch so long. Mommy even broke down yesterday and gave me a kong full of frozen peanut butter to lap, but that little trick backfired on her some since Queenie got into it when she came home yesterday afternoon.

I’d like to say it’s not easy being a writer’s dog, but that’s not true. I know if my mommy worked at an office, I’d be left alone in the house all day. Here all I’m asked to do is sit on Mommy’s feet during the winter. Mommy can take off in the middle of the day to take me for a walk, and there are people on the internet who think I’m cute.

But the gig has its downsides, too. For instance, I have to admit I get a little jealous of all the fictional animals Mommy creates. First, it was Voldemort the snake, who I don’t mind telling you I do NOT like one bit. Apparently, he’s even older than I am, because he was created before I was born. So, for that matter, was Bonegrinder.

Bonegrinder is, quite possibly, more popular on the internet than I am. We can’t have that, folks. See how cute I am?


So, whatever. Mommy made Voldemort the snake and Bonegrinder long before she met me (and boy was I cute then):

but what’s her excuse now? Why can’t I be in every book? Why can’t I be a unicorn hunting dog? I like unicorn hunters:

Lately, she’s gone totally overboard in creating animals, ever since I started hanging around her. It’s like she’s obsessed. It wasn’t enough that she had Voldie and Bonegrinder and Bucephalus. She added a whole host of new unicorns in Ascendant. (I mean, come on, guys. Angel? That was a ploy for unicorn sympathy, plain and simple.) And of course, there was Flayer. And Enyo.

And then, to add insult to injury, she created some DOGS. Gotta make fictional ones, Mommy? Think they’ll keep your feet warm in the winter? Gog and Magog, which I’m sorry, are very clearly ripoffs of Temp Dog #2. This year, she made another dog character, Goneril. You haven’t met Goneril yet. She’s in next year’s Under My Hat anthology. And, for the record, she is NOT AS CUTE AS ME.

And now she’s at it again. You should see her. I have to lie here on the floor by her desk, pretending to nap as adorably as possible, letting my little feet twitch as if I’m dreaming of chasing things (in a land where it’s not flooding, darn it ALL) and trying to distract her with my undeniably toxic levels of cute, and she’s sitting there, typing away and giggling at the antics of her latest animal creation.

Guys, I fear it might be cuter than me.

WE CAN NOT HAVE THAT.


Hello. My name is Rio Peterfreund-[Redacted], also known as Rio McBeo, Ree-bot, Puppy-uppy-uppy, and, since last week, “Hrree-aah!” (according to the one you know as Q).

Speaking of the one you know as Q and I know as “that crying thing I’ve finally forgiven Mommy for bringing home last fall because now she is finally interesting, given the way she likes to drop cheerios over the side of her high chair”, we get along great. Check it out:

Yes, I know this picture is a few months old, but look at the more recent variety:

Luckily, Q has finally figured out “Pet nice” and so I am willing to get near her again. (Well, the constant stream of dropped cheerios helps, too.) There was also that week or so that she thought my food and water dishes were the most fascinating things in the universe. You should have seen me standing there whining while she got into my kibble. I’m not sure why Mommy said I was such a good girl after that little episode. Usually she doesn’t like it when I whine, but I guess that it was preferable to me trying to take the kibble out of Q’s hands myself (Mommy didn’t even have an easy time of it.)

Anyway, I’m not here to talk about Q. (She’s all anyone ever talks about around here anymore.) I’m here to issue a formal complaint about the weather.

I’VE HAD IT.

Look, I love to swim. I don’t mind getting wet. But two weeks of rain? Come on, guys. I haven’t been on a proper walk in days. My favorite trail down at Rock Creek Park is completely underwater. Mommy and Daddy even planned a big Labor Day hike at Great Falls that got rained out. It’s dark and boring in my house and I’m not a huge fan of getting rained on, so I haven’t even been doing my usual exploring-the-backyard thing. I’m going stir crazy in here. Mommy’s at her dumb computer all day and Q left toys all over the floor that I’m not allowed to chew on and it’s so cool out that they turned of the A/C so now I don’t even have the simple pleasure of napping on the vents.

SIMPLE. PLEASURES. I don’t ask for much, world. But can’t I get a break in the rain so I can go chase a ball or two?

Bored now.

I can’t believe it’s September already. Wow, time flies. This will be a quickie post, since I have two deadlines this week:

August Goals:

  1. Camp Nanowrimo: I did about 10k for this, then was forced to drop out to do copyedits of For Darknesss Shows the Stars, and I never picked it up again, However, I did manage to omplete a great new proposal. so yay.
  2. Copyedits of FDSTS: I killed these.
  3. Clean out flower garden and replant. Oops.
  4. Clean out closet and donate old clothes.
  5. Write short story #4: Almost done with this one.
  6. Finish babyproofing. As much as you’re ever really finished. She keeps finding new things to get into.

Blog: I blogged 16 times in August. Plus I guest-blogged twice. Not bad, y’all.

Rio: As the weather’s been more tolerable, Rio’s been getting a lot more long walks, though of course nothing like her pre-baby daily three mile hikes. I don’t know if those are ever coming back, sadly. The most she’s been getting lately are big hikes on the weekend, and shorter daily walks with a lot of ball-retrieving at a local park. Yesterday, we tried to go on a long hike as a family, but those of you who follow me on Twitter know how that turned out. First, it started raining, so we diverted our path from Great Falls to a local walking trail along Rock Creek. But then Q, who used to go on hour long hikes with me and Rio every day as a newborn, suddenly decided she was DONE sitting in her carrier and started screeching and wouldn’t stop until we packed up and went home.

This is how sibling rivalry starts, folks.

Garden: My garden gave up the ghost this month. I’m not sure why. The basil’s still going strong and I have a few peppers left, but although my tomato vines are as viney as ever, they’ve stopped producing tomatoes. I haven’t seen a tomato in weeks. I actually had to buy some from the store. (There are a few blossoms out there now, so I might still get a second harvest. Here’s hoping!)

Quality Time with Sailor Boy: I think this is where we fell down the most in August. We went out twice (once to see Attack the Block, which I highly recommend, and once for dinner for SB’s birthday) but in general, we each got really busy with work. We also started spending a lot more quality time with Queenie than with the two of us alone. We’re having a lot more family dinners now that Q is eating regular food, and we’re spending a few hours in the evening hanging out with her, playing games and reading books and playing music and singing. (She LOVES music and clapping right now.) I guess this is what happens.

For September:

  1. Get rid of unused furniture.
  2. Reorganize office.
  3. Hang up art.
  4. Take out bush in front yard.
  5. Plant bulbs.
  6. Finish short story #4.
  7. Finish essay.
  8. Write at least 15k of new book.
  9. Review and sign new contracts (!!!)
  10. Plan Q’s first birthday party.
  11. Buy tickets for NINC trip to Florida.

And the big list:

  1. Revise/finish my contracted novel.
  2. Write short story #1
  3. Write short story #2
  4. Write short story #3
  5. Write short story #4
  6. Write essay #1 (that’s this week)
  7. Write new proposal #1
  8. Write new proposal/book #2
  9. Go to one writing-related conference.
  10. Walk my dog.
  11. Plant a garden.
  12. Make sure I spend quality time with Sailor Boy.
  13. Do at least two home improvement projects.
  14. Cut our budget.
  15. Read at least one new novel per month.
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