Lee Wind's blog!  Has super-cool Banned Book Week Q&As on it!

And Book People in Austin Texas, most excellent bookshop, has interviews up on its blog about Banned Books Week, with a great roster of folks besides me: Maureen Johnson, Garret Freymann-Weyr and K.L. Going.

IN OTHER NEWS, VAMPIRE GLAMOUR!

I went to Melissa de la Cruz's vampire book-launch party last night for The Van Alen Legacy, book four in her NY Times best-selling Blue Bloods series.  I did not really look like a vampire but I had on insane amounts of very dark lipstick and a Mad Men cocktail dress.

Mel was extremely glam and gracious and I'm so happy her vampires are taking over the world.  Also spotted: the glorious Jenny Han, covered in fake blood. (Ok, that is an exaggeration. But only a small one).  It was one of the few moments when my job actually seems fantastically glamorous. Today I'm back in sweats, working in Prime Meats and eating a slightly strange kale salad and black coffee.

IN OTHER NEWS, RIP MY COFFEE HOUSE!

Speaking of my ordinary writing life: TEA LOUNGE CLOSED.  That is where I sat at least half of my working hours, eating mediocre banana bread and drinking iced green tea on filthy retro couches. I was in there the other day, typing away, and the barista walked into the middle of the coffee shop and announced they were closing for good and "everybody out."

I didn't even really like it there, but I am bereft. I needed warning. I needed closure!  It was my OFFICE! And now it is gone. Gone is the crossing guard with her book of word searches. Gone the tiny lady with bows in her hair and a notebook full of handwritten stuff. Gone is the large gentleman who stares into space, neither eating nor drinking. Gone the aging but good-looking redhead who flirts loudly with the guy behind the counter.

Maybe some of them miss me, too.