Writing at The Lodge O' Death

Last month I attended a fabulous writing retreat in La Grange, Texas, with a group of Austin friends. Lots of fun yet productive, in a beautiful setting. The cabin, though, is affectionately known as "The Lodge of Death." P.J. Hoover had been before and has posted some great write-ups of the retreat.

Allow me to share some samples of the decor that give the cabin its nickname:

Yes, it's a fawn in it's natural habitat, a flower-filled rowboat.

...it's even better close up. Pretty sure it's smiling.

Every bathroom should have a baby doll in a teepee

...unless it's a bathroom decorated with camouflage paint and antlers.

We even had fancy robes.

Light fixture too plain? Add more antlers.

And that's what's been missing from my flower arrangements too.
Antlers.

I know that expression doesn't look natural, but this is how they look when they're giving a bleat-out to the ladies.

Kind of wanted to pull the glue off the raccoon's leg, but also kind of worried that was the only thing holding him together.

This makes the bedroom more cozy.
Who wouldn't want this staring at you while you try to sleep?

Oh I see, it's a book rack. A really inefficient book rack.

Wait, that's better.

This guy has not seen the inside of the cabin.

And yes, there was even a framed print of a dog smoking a pipe.

But this was my view where I wrote from the screened-in porch.

My own contribution, the taxidermied wasp.
Okay, it's dead wasp on an index card, but I'm pretty proud.

As you see, lots of character in the place. Sure, most of the characters were stuffed and mounted, but I can't wait to go back!

A Spicy Announcement

It's a new foreign rights sale for CHAINED!

And thanks to this post by Darcy Pattison, I found a fun way to announce it. If you're not familiar with Fiverr.com, it's a site where you can find all kinds of random things people will do for $5. It's kind of addictive to scroll through. When I heard about my next foreign rights sale, I had a video made by this user, who spells out messages using Indian spices. Then I had to hang on to it for a couple of weeks until I could officially announce the news. Which is now!



I've been thrilled about each of the foreign rights sales before, but I'm especially honored about a publisher in India acquiring the novel, since that's where CHAINED is set.

The Indian edition will be published by Penguin/Puffin India in 2014.