I’ve had a very busy October so far. On October 9th I finished a 9-week teaching position with a flurry of paper-grading. On the 10th and 11th I did the Rocket City LitFest in Huntsville. On the 13th I spoke to some kids at Chelsea High School. Today I slept in late and made pretty leather things, at the expense of my clean, unstained fingers.

As utterly exhausted as I was by weekend, I must admit that it was well worth it. I spoke on a bunch of panels, met some really nice readers, and got t...