Well, just to warn you…this will be a rather rambly, long-ish post.

If you were curious, The Bet I was in with three other authors has partly been decided. I was the grand loser (winner). If you recall, I had picked Uncle Mo as my horse for the Derby, but then he was scratched because of gastrointestinal issues. So then I had to pick another horse. I narrowed it down to Comma to the Top and Mucho Macho Man. I wasn’t able to watch the race because of the time difference, but apparently Comma to the Top was either first or second throughout most of it…to get an ankle injury or something at the end and finish dead last.

Catherine Ryan Hyde gave me this title for the short story I had to write: Uncle Mo’s Gastrointestinal Tract

Um, yeah. That’s why you should never make a bet with authors. I’ve got a first draft of the story done, but I need to do some edits. All I can say is…poor, poor Uncle Mo.

More on that soon…

In other news, have noticed that the hardcover of my second book, Still Sucks to Be Me, is being sold at a deep discount over at Amazon, probably in prep for the paperback release in June. So, if you wanna you can pick one up there pretty cheap right now in the US. No idea how long that will last. You know Amazon. It jumps from “in stock” to “only 3 left!” to “in stock” to “only 7 left!” in the space of a day.

In yet other news, I have some news that I can’t tell you. Sorry.

Related to that, I’ve heard some really good news about a friend. But I can’t tell you that either. Sorry.

Hopefully I’ll be relating both to you pretty soon. If I don’t die of the waiting. Is that possible? Probably not. If it were, writers would be dropping dead all the time (warning: if you crave instant gratification, don’t become a writer).

Anyway, the new SUPER SHINY SEKRIT PROJECT THAT STILL NEEDS A CODE NAME is coming along nicely. I’m so happy and excited about it that it’s absolutely terrifying. I’m closing in on 20,000 words (very, very close) and am on chapter 12 at the moment. ACK!

In Notting Hill / Portobello Road kind of news (technically, Blenheim Crescent), I’ve now found my new favorite bookshop. The great thing about this area is that there are lots of little bookshops, many with very specific focuses (can you guess what Books for Cooks sells?) There are the big shops, like Waterstones and W.H. Smith and Foyle’s, but I have to admit I prefer smaller ones. I do like Daunt books, which is a small chain with just a few stores, but their closest shop to us is up by Holland Park Gate (which isn’t super far, but I’m not that way all that often). They do have a lovely children’s section.

But my new favorite is quite close to us. It’s called The Travel Bookshop and it is a fixture of the area. It’s also one of the inspirations for the bookshop in that Notting Hill movie (you might have heard of it). I’d gone in before, but only on the weekends and it is absolutely slammed then with tourists. We went today because Max and I had won a Travel Bookshop bag and some tea in their Kissing Photo Contest.

Um, maybe I should back up. Back a weekend or two ago, I’d noticed they were having a kissing photo contest. You were supposed to go outside their shop and take a picture kissing and then send it to them for their Facebook page.

We were out walking around on Portobello for the market (we’re so close, we pretty much go every week…it’s just a few blocks) and I thought we might as well do it for the fun of it. Anyway, we were one of the winners, which I’m sure is completely attributable to The Max.

So we stopped by today to pick up our prize and the store had just a few customers in it instead of being the madhouse it usually is when I’ve gone there. I actually got to browse around today and I just love it. It’s definitely focused on travel books, but they include literary works about the different areas (like go to the Italy section and you’ll find books on travel, but you might also find something like Under the Tuscan Sun). They also have a bit of a children’s section and even some YA books too! All in all, just a very nice little shop. I’m happy to have a new favorite local independent bookshop now. I’ve been missing that. Back in our old neighborhood north of Chicago, all of them had closed. It’s great to see so many here.