Five Things on this Fine Friday

1. After some long consideration about things like compatability and ease of updating, I switched my author site over so that it's fully powered by my much beloved Wordpress. I hope the design isn't too big and wild for everyone's screens. I'm still adding content (really, the only "extra" that's up is the final playlists for BW and MAP, which you can see/listen to here), so keep checking back. If you have any questions you'd like to see answered, leave me a comment on the site or on Livejournal. :) 2. I feel relieved to finally have another story idea cooking. Granted, I have a number of projects that I've been bouncing around for a while, but none of them were really grabbing me--either because I felt like the emotional heart wasn't there, or it wasn't original enough. And since I've now had a story that began with a character, and another that started with a plot element, it's only natural that this one should be inspired by a setting. I might start drafting this weekend, but I do need to do a little research first. I'm also still considering coming up with a proposal for a BW sequel (unfortunately it wouldn't make sense to do a companion or prequel, and I know how tired everyone is of one fantasy series after another). Need to talk with The Agent first...

3. I never did get around to posting a vlog of my adventuring around New York City (I decided to save you all from the boredom it would have induced), but I just wanted to highlight the fact that I kinda love the Wall Street area. The financial district is actually really cool--I mentioned to my friend Garrett that it's the only part of the city that you can tell colonists (whether they be from Amsterdam or London) settled. This is mainly because the streets are organized in a completely batshit crazy kind of way.

My favorite place down there is the (not original) Federal Hall. Yes, this is me, Alex Bracken Founder of the Society of George Washington Fangirls, telling you how cool it is. Because D.C. wasn't ready for quite some time (poor John Adams), the first United States Congress met here and it's also where Washington was sworn in as president. This means the Wall Street area gets an A+ in my book.



3. This past week was the first time I felt a little collegesick, and I think it mainly had to do with Sorority Recruitment. Now, I actually hated pretty much everything about Rush (with the exception of hanging out with my sisters and adding all of those cute, wonderful girls to our ranks at the end of it), but the one thing Rush gave me (besides headaches, heat stroke, and sorority sisters) is a permantly engraved memorization of the Greek Alphabet. After every round you "sing" the rushees out of the house, and unlike other sororities (at least in my time there) we used the same song every time. And that song, my fine readers, was the Greek Alphabet set to a tune. I would literally have dreams with the song in it.

5. I'm really, really excited to be hearing from more and more people about how much they liked BRIGHTLY WOVEN or are interested in reading it! I'm a little behind on sending ARC requests in to Egmont, so I'm hoping to get to that this weekend as I finish working on my site.