I just happened upon a real surprise at Amazon--my paperback cover for Fruitflesh! I had no idea it was going to be so different from the hardcover. I have to get over my shock before I'll know how I really feel about it--I had no idea a new cover was even in the works, so it was a very unexpected thing to find it online--but I think I like it. I think I like it a lot. I like the lowercase font for the subtitle. I like the notebook feel of the background. I like the watermelon (although the knife is a bit troublesome.) I like the freshness and lightness of it, such a contrast to the deep dark mysteriousness of the hardcover. Both are luscious in their own ways.

I'm looking forward to holding the paperbacks for both books in my hands. They come out May 1, 2004. May Day. A day to celebrate new life. I hope my books--which have been so lovingly, but so quietly, received--will find new life in their new form. Thanks to those who have read my books and have been so generous in your response. I am very grateful.

Happy Thanksgiving! There is so much to be thankful for.

CaliforniaAuthors.com just posted my essay about having author photos taken (which, I should add, was a very trippy experience for me.)

I've decided to take the NaNoWriMo challenge again this year--50,000 words in 30 days. I'm about 4/5 there, but the rest of the month is not going to allow for much writing time, so I'm not sure whether I'm going to make it to the finish line. I'll let you know what happens.

Hi, it's me again, ten days later! I crossed the finish line at 10:45 am today, November 26th. I haven't finished the story yet, but I reached 50,000 words. Phew! I hope I won't lose this momentum now--I probably have about 20,000 words to go to finish this most extremely rough first draft. I got a nifty "Winner" icon, but I can't figure out how to post it here. Imagine a lovely little square with some pages that say "The End" on them. But this isn't the end. Not by a long shot. Revisions are on the horizon...

I think I forgot to link this before--I was a guest at my friend Wendy's luscious site, Earthly Delights a while back. Her writing always makes my mouth water.

I am so happy to be part of the launch issue of Literary Mama, a wonderful new mama-centric lit journal put out by a group of amazing mamawriters. You can find one of my short stories, "Eyes in the Back of Her Head" there, along with the interview that originally appeared in Philly Mama, plus some fabulous prose and poetry from other mamas (including a gorgeous story by my friend Susan Ito.)