This will be my last Halloween post, I swear. It's just that I love the holiday so, so much and can't help gushing about it. It might be getting to be a little much though, so after this I'll shut up about anything Halloween related. (Until next year, anyway.) 

But for now, pumpkin carving! 

There are all these things writers do. Things besides writing. Like sometimes an author takes what they’ve written, and they read it out loud to a group of people.

This is an author reading and it’s something I never thought would happen to me. Actually, that’s not right. More accurate to say it’s something I have both hoped for (because it means success!) and dreaded (because oh my God how could I possibly read something I wrote in front of people?). I dealt with these conflicting feelings by refusing to think about readings at all.

Then I wrote a short story called There Used to Be Cowboys.

And it got accepted to an awesome local magazine called Helen.

Fast forward a few months, and the editor of Helen is asking me to read a segment of that story at the Vegas Valley Book Festival.

Out loud.

Last night I went to dinner with my best friend.

And we started talking about that time we went to Death Valley on a quest to find the legendary Barker Ranch.

For those unfamiliar with it, Barker Ranch was the last hideout of Charles Manson before his arrest. It’s in a remote area of Death Valley, only accessible by 4-wheel drive.

I’ve sort of been binge-reading young adult books lately.