I’m contractually obligated to remind folks that Backyard Dragons releases this Friday. If you’re interested, I strongly recommend reading Girls Can’t Be Knights first, as Dragons is a sequel. CAUTION: This is Young Adult Urban Fantasy WITH NO ROMANCE. Seriously, there’s no romance. Please don’t read it and get mad there’s no romance, because there’s no romance. It’s an ACTION/ADVENTURE series with a female protagonist.

I also must point out that Working the Table: An Indie Author’s Guide to Conventions is now available in paperback. The ebook version will be available whenever Amazon is able to figure out why their system is spazzing over the file. Hopefully, by the end of this week. If you have any interest in pimping your own books at events, this book can help you make your first event more of a success than a “learning experience”*.

With that stuff out of the way, Spring is springing where I live. This weekend, we had gorgeous weather here in the PNW. After spending the past five months chained to my laptop, working nearly nonstop on Backyard Dragons, a handful of anthology submissions, book 4 of The Greatest Sin, Chowndie, Ethereal Entanglements, and the next Ilauris book, I set it down. For, like a half an hour. I went outside. There was this bright, yellowish thing in the weirdly blue sky.

The view out the window of my office. And when I say “office,” I mean “bedroom.” You may hate me for working from my beanbag if you so choose. You may also gape at what we in the PNW mean when we say “clear skies.”

I had to check the internet to find out that’s what the sky looks like when it’s not cloudy or raining. Who knew, amIright? Apparently, that bright light thing is called “the sun,” which seems kind of a silly name to me, but I’m not in charge of things like that. I prefer “daystar” or “cancerlight.”

Since the weather was so pleasant–all the way into the 60s–I went out and did some gardening. Okay, I really only planted four bulbs I picked up at the Portland Home & Garden Show. I’m taking a chance on an oriental lily this year. According to the saleswoman, whose business happens to be about five miles from my house (because of course I drove over 100 miles to discover a business where I live), they don’t get red lily beetle here. Allegedly. We’ll see. The rest of the bulbs were daylilies which are sort of my gardening chocolate. As opposed to actual chocolate, which is my writing chocolate.

I feel it’s only fair at the point in the year to warn people who enjoy my spring and summer Ragbrai-related posts that I’ve decided not to go this year. Don’t panic. I’m not dying and have had no major injuries. This year, instead of journeying to Iowa for the best week in the multiverse, Jeffrey Cook and I are embarking on a midwest road trip convention tour under the Clockwork Dragon banner. The timing of the cons we’re working makes Ragbrai impossible. I’m hoping to get back to the corn in 2017. I’ll probably still talk about it, because no matter how awful Ragbrai is, it’s still the best vacation ever.

P.S. You really should read Knights before Dragons. I’m not kidding. Will Dragons make sense without? Sure. In the same way Empire Strikes Back makes sense without A New Hope. See? Grab Knights first. Then brace for Ethereal Entanglements this summer, which is book 3 in the series.

*Notice how I’m not guaranteeing you’ll have the bestest first event ever. I’m not a huckster trying to profit from your hopes and/or dreams. I just want vendor rooms to be great places and am perfectly happy to share my experiences to help others. Jeff feels the same way.