Jennifer Brown

Ah, yes, the kids are back in school and Mommy is back to work! Seems crazy to say this, but I really haven't written anything new since the end of May. No wonder I'm all twitchy.

Instead, I spent the entire summer revising BITTER END. Yes, that is the official title of my new YA novel, and YES, I thought of that title myself (For those of you familiar with my titling woes, you understand what a huge win that is for me). So I have a title, I have a cover, I have a revised manuscript...all that's left to do is wait until May for the book to come out.

And in the meantime, keep writing.

I also did a ton of reading this summer, and I have a few things I want to say about some of those books, so you can look forward to those blogs coming up. I am currently on book #61 of my 2010 Reading Goal, and I'm really beginning to fear that I won't make it. What's worse, I fear I'll make it over 90, which will just piss me off.

We also took a little Side Trip of Terror to Colorado this summer. It was one of our "adventure vacations," which usually translates to "Find Everything That Scares the Bejeezus Out of Jennifer and Do Them All, and When She Doesn't Die, Call it a Vacation" vacation. We whitewater rafted again (which actually is more fun than scary), scrambled on the rocks at Garden of the Gods (terrifying!), and rode ATVs up a mountain overlooking the Continental Divide (if there is a God, I will never have to do that again).

Probably scariest, we saw the Body Worlds exhibit -- you know, the one with all the cadavers and the beat-up looking organs with the tumors and shit? Let's just say my mortality has been following me around ever since. *peers nervously around every corner for sign of Grim Reaper*

But mostly I spent the summer being a mom. Saw nearly 20 movies. Bowled 5 free games. Went to an amusement park and screamed my head off. Went to a water park and marveled at how not fun water parks are to me anymore. Visited museums and had lunch with family members and rested up for the WRITING FRENZY that is sure to visit me over the course of the next 9 months. Yeah, buddy.