Promotional photo I took for Twin Falls High School's production of The Mummy's Claw. Seve and I saw it this last Friday and it was fantastic. It was a live radio show performance and James (their director) transformed the stage into an intimate blackbox theatre as though we were inside a radio station, complete with students performing with scripts into microphones and clopping shoes on tables to make the sound effects of footsteps, rotating stone slabs for the sound of the mummy's tomb opening, etc.

This weekend I also took Simon and Graham to Barnes & Noble to pick up some Halloween books. The second we were inside, I saw a local author sitting at a table, hosting a book signing. She was by herself, the table was small, and no one was in line yet. Seeing her made me think of my mother and the time she sat at a Barnes & Noble hosting a book signing, and how hard it was for her. Really good of course, but hard because it was awkward. Writing and authorship is reclusive by nature. It's an act you do alone, but if anyone's going to buy your opus you have to put yourself out there. I decided then and there that, whether it was the next Hunger Games or a book about potatoes, I'd buy this author's book.

Luckily it was right up my alley. A contemporary realistic YA novel about two black kids dealing with darned white kids in the south. That's putting it crudely, but it's really a great read. You can check it out here. Hush Puppy by Lisa T. Cresswell.

I was tempted to tell her that I'm an aspiring author too! and yadda yadda blah blah blah but until I actually have a book out there I'm not eager to really share that with anyone. No one cares if you're writing a book unless it's the sequel to something they've already read.