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It’s been a bit, my darlings.

Almost a whole year. And a lot has happened. Since, yanno. Winning a Newbery Medal and my life changing forever. Or whatever. I also have traveled around the country, visiting kids and classrooms. I’ve read my book out loud more times than I can count. I told kids that their stories mattered and I made them believe it. Because I believe it. It took a while for the world to get quiet again.

I sent a child to college. I cried a lot. I have been mothering my other two through this new relationship landscape with their beloved sister so very far away.

I suffered a concussion. Back in May. And it took way longer than it seemed like it should have for my brain to . . . come back online, as it were. I’m still not at 100%. Maybe I’ll never be.

And I put together a new book. It’s called Dreadful Young Ladies, and Other Stories. This one is for grownups. As many of you know, I’ve been writing short stories for a long time now. Mostly speculative. Mostly strange. Mostly dark and sharp and misshapen. I did a lot of thinking and work to choose and assemble the stories that would make up this collection. Here is what people have been saying about it:

Publisher’s Weekly gave it a starred review. 

So did Library Journal.

The Star Tribune said some nice things.

And so did the Washington Independent. 

And the Milwaukee Sentinel.

And I was on NPR! (side note: Lulu Garcia-Navarro is JUST as awesome as you hope she is!)

And then there was this nice review too.

There’s more, but that’s enough for now.

I’m writing this from the road – my first leg of a fairly long book tour. I can’t say yes to everything, unfortunately. I have to get home. Make dinner. Cuddle my kids. See to the needs of my endlessly needy dog. Curl up with my husband and watch dumb television. But I try to get out when I can. Because it’s good to share stories, you know? It’s very, very good.

Maybe I should start blogging again. I’m working on a new book now – two, actually. And I’m finding that there are, after a long time of quietness – things that I’d like to say. And maybe I’m ready to say them.

Watch this space.