1. LIFE & STUFF

It's been a busy couple weeks, and I've been working hard amidst a new routine, shuffling the kids around more than ever, now that Little E's daily routine doesn't involve a bus. It's nice in some ways, getting to spend more time in the car with her, just talking, sometimes singing, or playing car games. Baby H gets in on the fun too--or tries to, but most of the time he doesn't know what we're doing. He's turning 2 next week, which seems crazy to me. Wasn't he just a tiny little baby in my arms? How has it been two whole years already?

As I noted above, I've been working hard, both editing and writing. There's been a lot of writing, actually, which is good, because I'd been struggling to fit it in and honestly, I think the overall discouragement I've been feeling was creating mental blocks I had to overcome. I also came to really recognize over the past few weeks how much what point I'm at in a book can affect my mood. Part of that can be attributed to the type of music I listen to while I'm writing certain scenes--fun, flirty, sexy, or heartbreaking. I went through a real high when my main characters were falling in love, but the drama has hit the fan, kids. In a big way, and it's had me feeling in a funk the past two days. I think I'll have to put together a playlist for the book because it really has a solid soundtrack. Here's a hint about where I was today--My Invitation by Sarah Slean

She has such an awful lot of soldiers
Quite a lovely army all her own
Night and day they stand before the fortress
Very safe but very all alone

2. BOOKS & PUBLISHING NEWS

There are a lot of lists of Summer Beach Reads circulating at this time of year--and why not? We're all looking for something to help us escape reality as we bask in the sun while it's still here. Basically, you can take your pick when it comes to these lists, but if you're into YA like I am, might I suggest this list put out by The New York Public Library? Basically, all you need to know about it is that E. Lockhart's We Were Liars is on it, and you need to read that book like yesterday.

3. POP CULTURE NEWS

I feel like I can't even try to talk about anything else here this week--Pokemon Go and HarmonQuest. Two very different things. Both not available in Canada yet. Come on, seriously? WAIT! Harmon Quest episode one appears to be on YouTube! Rejoice!!

**4. JUST PRESS PLAY: Samuel L. Jackson Recaps Game of Thrones and it's the best**

5. NOTEWORTHY NEW YA: THE KILLER IN ME by Margot Harrison

Seventeen-year-old Nina Barrows knows all about the Thief. She’s intimately familiar with his hunting methods: how he stalks and kills at random, how he disposes of his victims’ bodies in an abandoned mine in the deepest, most desolate part of a desert.

Now, for the first time, Nina has the chance to do something about the serial killer that no one else knows exists. With the help of her former best friend, Warren, she tracks the Thief two thousand miles, to his home turf—the deserts of New Mexico.

But the man she meets there seems nothing like the brutal sociopath with whom she’s had a disturbing connection her whole life. To anyone else, Dylan Shadwell is exactly what he appears to be: a young veteran committed to his girlfriend and her young daughter. As Nina spends more time with him, she begins to doubt the truth she once held as certain: Dylan Shadwell is the Thief. She even starts to wonder . . . what if there is no Thief?

-Courtesy of Indiebound