I want to be just like Laurie Halse Anderson when I grow up. Seriously, that woman is amazing. While she was talking about her new book Chains, I felt like I knew just what she was talking about, only that I am a few years behind her. I can only hope that one day I will be even half as successful as she is.



Plus she let me ask her like 50 billion questions before the signing and gave me loads of advice and people to talk to and organizations to check out. If you read her blog post (Book Tour Day 9), you'll see me, in the third row. I'm the one with the goofy grin on my face because I think I just found my new BFF. (I wish!)

Also, I go to the Saliva concert tonight. I can't wait. I want to go right now. Right this minute. Is it time to go yet?

I thought about writing about the NBA finalists, but then I wondered what more I could say than so many people have already said so much better. So congratulations to all the nominees. I look forward to reading the books that I haven't yet read. I'm also excited that I will be seeing Laurie Halse Anderson, one of the NBA finalists and one of my favorite authors, at Anderson's Bookshop next week. I'll also be there earlier in the week for Cinda Williams Chima and John Green. I'm also going to try to catch Loius Sachar and Cornelia Funke, but we'll see if I'm able to make those. So many good events to be a part of!

Okay, enough showing off how many great authors come to my area.

I have all of these pictures that I keep meaning to post but never seem to get around to. So here are a few pictures from all the adventures I have been having in the last month. Unfortunately, most of the adventures took place in the rain, so I look like a drown rat in a couple while others are kind of hard to see because of the cloud cover.



A couple friends and I took a river boat tour of Chicago. Both Tia and Leah just moved to the area, so I wanted to take them to see the city from a different perspective.



Going on an evening cruise of Lake Geneva was a great way to say farewell to the nice weather. I spent a lot of summers as a kid on this lake where the likes of Al Capone and William Wrigley spent their vacations.



I know, my little brother is just too cute. It might look sunny in this picture, but we spent hours in the rain at Mystic Seaport climbing through old ships.



And of course what would a trip to New England be without stopping by the Green Monster? I might not be a Red Sox fan, but I sure can appreciate the history that took place at this old ball field.

In other er...things...I've been getting ready for Halloween by writing horror stories. I've written a couple of short mellow dramas, including a modern re-telling of Edger Allen Poe's A Tell-Tale Heart. I was inspired by a 1940's short I saw last night of this story and thought, what if it wasn't a guy killing his master but a woman killing her husband. Poe never does specify what gender the murderer is.

What horror stories will you be telling this Halloween?