Summer vacation (ha)

Well, at least one of my children is out of school for the summer. And I'm so desperate for writing time I took my six-year-old to Starbucks this morning, where I bought her a Frappuccino and let her listen to The Smiths on my iPod for over an hour. I don't think it was the CD with "Girlfriend in a Coma" on it. Have to check that.

On the plus side, I did get 850 words done. (843, actually, but who's counting?)

At any rate, I apologize for the lack of recipes lately, but we've been eating a lot of Shake 'n' Bake around here. How do I break up the monotony, you ask? Why, Barbecue, Tangy Honey, and Original, of course. (My children abhor Hot 'n' Spicy, but I like it.) Now, I know just what you're thinking: watch out Gourmet Magazine. HOWEVER, since the galleys of Dead and Berried are going to print next month, I have some recipe testing coming up... I'll let you know how it goes.

On the signing schedule, I'll be in San Antonio this coming weekend (if I get around to getting a hotel room), Austin the following weekend, and Dallas the weekend of the 23rd. The books are coming along swimmingly -- I'm past the 33% mark on my new werewolf mystery -- and I got a call from Berkley yesterday about Barbara's beading book. (Currently titled Tourmaline Teal, but that evidently will change.) They're working on the cover now; I can't wait to see it!

Happy summer everyone, and to all of you SAHMs and SAHDs, I'm right there with you. (Parenting tip of the day: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is good for at least an hour -- and it's got catchy Oompah Loompah tunes, too! Toss in some microwave popcorn and you might get to squeeze in a shower!)