I have a small life. I was thinking about this today.

I have 2 pairs of pants that I like. 2 shirts. 2 sweaters. 1 pair of boots. Those are the clothes I wear. I have 3 pairs of reading glasses, only 2 that are the right strength. 1 laptop. 1 iphone. 1 set of earphones. That's what I need to write. I have 3 daughters. 2 parents, 1 husband. That's my family. Those are my numbers.

On the other hand, there is a sudden exponential, numerical vastness accompanying the book release that I just can't seem to wrap my head around. By the time you start to think about postcards and events and flights and tours and arcs and publishers and countries and interviews and reviews and blog hits and magazines and twitter and goodreads and facebook and BC's facebook page, it adds up to a whole lot of wonderful, terrifying, exciting, intimidating, awesome, did I mention terrifying, numbers.

Even the 576 pages of BC itself seems like a big scary number, now that we've hit 30 days and counting.

Authors warn you about what a book release is like, but before it happens to you it just goes in one ear and out the other. Not now. Kami and I saw Scott Westerfeld at an event recently and I swear to you I'm not sure he even knew what town he was in, so whirlwind was the tour, so big the numbers! (And it was L.A., Scott. You were in L.A…)

Don't get me wrong, I'm grateful for all of it, down to the last digit. It's just not the same size as the rest of my life. Because, like I said, my life happens to be small.

So I'm not and never have been very good with math facts, but I'm going to try. And in honor of embracing the awesomeness of numbers, in 5 minutes I'm going out to Vons to buy 200 pieces of candy + watch at least 47 minutes of Ghost Whisperer's Sleepy Hollow episode + trick or treat for at least 120 minutes. With 1 3rd grader dressed as a cardboard box. From whom I will steal, hopefully, at least 5 mini Kit Kat bars.

(She will definitely try to stop me by saying the words "mom don't" at least 70,000,000,000+ times. Unless she remembers she's not too fond of mini Kit Kat bars. Which, last time I checked, she isn't. Still, it's the principle of the thing…)

Happy Halloween!

By the way? Next week's goal: 1 new pair of pants.

Babysteps.

At least that's what I think. I'm not so good at counting, though. This is what is going on:

Kam and I are deep in the Cave o' Revisions for BC 2. D E E P D E E P D E E P in the Cave. It's so dark in here I'm going to call it darkling. Please feel free to stop by and finish this book for us if you are in the area.

Parties are being planned for BC 1. Postcards printed. Social anxiety blossoming. If you haven't checked out the Events page on the BC Book site, see if you can make it to any of our launch events! Whooh! We just heard today that even our agent might make it out to L.A. for the debut, which is the most fun bit of news ever.

Talking to some of our European publishers about various plans (not of the darkling variety) and that is v. exciting. It is, (in fact, Libba!) a small world after all. Good to know.

Interviews are being scheduled, as is our U.S. tour. Scary!

Rows of pecan pies in jars are sitting in my office. Don't ask.

And I have one day to come up with three Halloween costumes. Yoshi, a bag of popcorn, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the early seasons. Still need those chunky black heels. 

How much more could have happened on the 33rd day before our release date? Stay tuned…

By 7 am this morning I had been to Starbucks twice, once with each of my two teens waiting for a bus. I was complaining about being stuck on what I was revising, and how I was a loser, and how did people ever write books anyways, and my daughter was listening but not saying much…then a boy behind us interrupted to ask her if there was a Latin test and when we walked away she said,  "His dad died two weeks ago from cancer so he had to miss retreat, but he was back to school the next day. Anyways, what were you saying?"

And I said "Nothing."

Now I will shut up and go finish that chapter.