Free Book Friday, and the Best Model of a Weekend Warrior Trailer made entirely out of Coasters

It's Free Book Friday!
Find out how to enter at the end of the post.


1. I'm Being Interviewed:

F.O.B. Tamara interviewed me for her blog today. If you get a mo, please please leave a comment so she doesn't accuse me of ruining her readership. It may not be up until later today.

*Update: her post is up! Go check it out.

2. What I'm Reading:


Keturah and Lord Death, by Martine Leavitt.

Martine Leavitt critiqued the first 20 pages of Broken at a writing workshop over the summer, and I learned so much from both her and the rest of my class cohorts.

I can sum up her advice to me in two sentences: "Don't make me guess what the Frakkin Concrete Object of Desire is!" and "When it comes to backstory, why can't you be more like Kim?"

I kid. She didn't use the word Frakkin, and she said it much more eloquently than I just did. But the general gist of it is there.

I took her advice. Now, my main character has a goal (sorta important in a book) and I'm trying daily to be more like Kim.

Anyway, she talked about Keturah and Lord Death a lot, so I figured I should give it a looksy.

2. What I'm Revising:

Page 2 of Broken. Only 325 more pages to go. Thanks everyone for your nice comments Wednesday, and thanks to those of you who couldn't think of anything nice to say about the first page, so didn't say anything at all.

As reported by Team Gluten Intolerant in the comments section Wednesday, I turned in my book at 10:02 that night.

3. Apparently you'll have to draw me a picture...

Do you ever have those family members who are all like, "If we weren't related, we probably wouldn't be friends, because we have nothing in common."?

I do. Cousin A. I know this, because the other night when we were at dinner with Cousin K, she said to me, "If we weren't related, we probably wouldn't be friends..."

It all started when she was telling me about how their family likes to go to the sand dunes for vacations. I'm stating here and now, I do not understand this type of vacation, or how one even considers it a "vacation". When I asked where everyone sleeps in the sand desert, she said they stay in trailers.

me: "Like a camper trailer?"


A: "No. More like a Weekend Warrior."

me: "What the Frak is a Weekend Warrior?"

A: "It's boxier than a camper, and it has a back door that drops down so you can drive stuff into it."

me: "So, like a trailer on the back of a semi?"

Totally exasperated, Cousin A gathers five square drink coasters on the table and stands them up, arranging them.


A: "Watch closely. You see, the sides come together at 90 degree angles, like walls... four sides... Hey Cousin K! I need more hands. Can you hold the roof on? Great. There. A Weekend Warrior Trailer looks like this:

me: "A cube? All that work, using coasters and four hands to illustrate to me what a box looks like?"

A: "That's not all. Also to show you what the drop down back door does:

Here's an actual Weekend Warrior:


I think her cube of coasters is a pretty good likeness.

After all these years, Cousin A and I are trying to understand each other.
I tried to appreciate the intricacies of a Weekend Warrior trailer, and why in the world someone would make sand dunes a destination.

She reached out to me by telling me she was at a book store the other day, and she thought of me because she saw a picture of a zombie, and didn't I think that was cool. I mean, I like books and zombies, right?

Actually, I always think books and zombies are cool.

To Enter Free Book Friday:
Leave a comment on Tamara's blog when my interview comes up, and then tell me you did in my comments, and you're entered in FBF.
But feel free to leave a comment on this post even if the interview doesn't show up until way later. How about if you leave a comment on this post, you're entered once, and if you leave another one on Tamara's interview post, you're entered twice. Good? Good.

What's everyone doing this weekend? Any fun plans? I'm going to the SCBWI Conference. If you're there, find me!