What Would You Pack If You Had To Make a Run For It?

Quietude on the blog here, as I moved house last week, cleaned and painted the old digs to hand over the keys, and readied for Isaac.

Tropical-Storm-That-Might-Become-A-Hurricane Isaac that is. All this moving, (un)packing, and being confronted with the stuff we own made me wish I owned less...

And of course we have to ready our important things, just in case we're ordered to evacuate. To me, that list of stuff is pretty short. Photo albums, kids and cats (see adorable picture) is what I care most about. Plus my trusty old netbook.

How about you? What would you grab if you had to make a run for it?

Where I Geek Out And Declare My Love For Research (Writerly Wednesday post)

Confession time: I love to do research. I love to surf the web--or even better: check out a big stack of books at the library. There's just nothing better. I'm geeky that way.

For Double Vision, I must've read a dozen books on Leonardo da Vinci. I combed travel guides on Paris, learned about its awesome catacombs. I dove into the fascinating history of codes and ciphers.

So you'd think the book is full of facts and history, right? Not really. I think that out of all that research, maybe one percent makes it into the book.

I could save myself a lot of time by just looking for what I need and getting back to writing. Maybe research is just avoidance, hmmm...

How 'bout you, writer friends? Do you like research, and where do you go to get your data?

I talk some more about research at Sleuths, Spies and Alibis.

Back to the Future

Those of you who've followed this blog a while probably know I'm a reluctant techno adopter. Sure, I blog and Tweet like a birdie, but there are still a ton of things I have yet to learn. How to make my website cooler and less templatey, for one. Hashtags on Twitter, and how to text on my phone. I'm a little bit of a grandma sometimes when it comes to technology.

So with my first book coming out in a few years, I started thinking ahead about how to reach readers in 2013. What will your average middle-grader be up to by then? Will Twitter be out, or is it not even in with tweens? And how about these new social networking sites for tweens that are popping up?

What techno gear will kids have in the future? Any predictions?