Untidy thoughts from a filthy mind

Because I blog every Friday at The Debutante Ball, it's the one day a week I cut myself some slack here on this blog and write my post in the morning instead of the night before.

I went to bed last night thinking I'd get up this morning and organize all my thoughts into a nice, tidy, Friday morning blog post.

But the tidiness isn't really happening in my brain right now, which I'm sure you can either attribute to a filthy mind or the fact that my brain actually exploded sometime back at the beginning of August and I've been operating these last few weeks with something resembling butterscotch pudding between my ears.

So today, you get a scattered blog post.

Since I mentioned The Debutante Ball, I should point out that this week's post on the topic of characters marks my second-to-last appearance at this amazing group blog that chronicles the debut year of five authors from different genres. I feel a funny sense of nostalgia and relief – it's been a crazy one-year ride. One thing that makes me very, very happy is that my beloved agency sistah, Linda Grimes, snagged one of the coveted slots for next year's Debutante Ball class. You guys, she's fabulously funny, and you're going to love both her Debutante Ball posts and her hysterical debut novel, In a Fix, which comes out July 2012.

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Speaking of posting in other places, my Virtual Blog Tour continues to surge along. Check the column over there to the right to see where I've been and what I've been blogging about in random, wild places. Most of them involve giveaways, so go win some free books!

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This was a funny week of "yes, this is real" validations. First off was a conference call chat Monday evening with the amazing women of the Bookhungry Book Club. I had a great time answering questions and blathering nonsensically, though I suspected at several points they wanted to demand I shut up and put the real author on the phone – preferably someone much cooler and funnier.

Anyway, several of those ladies also reviewed the book on their blogs (which is part of the fun of being a member of a virtual book club). You can check those out those posts at the links here:

Patty Blount
Kelly Breakey
Abby Mumford
Karla Nellenbach
Cynthia Reese

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Another "yep, it's real" moment came yesterday afternoon when the Sourcebooks Publicity Goddess called to tell me Library Journal gave a starred review to Making Waves and noted, "Great fun from an inventive new writer; highly recommended for all libraries." You can read the whole review here. While I've adored every single review I've gotten, there's something particularly validating about the ones like Library Journal or Booklist (the latter is the one that said, “Fenske’s off-the-wall plotting is reminiscent of a tame Carl Hiaasen on Cupid juice.”) Part of me has this expectation that librarians are only interested in real books, and then I have to hit myself with a ruler because DUH, I've written a real book. When is that going to sink in?

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Yet another surreal author moment came yesterday afternoon when I was typing away in my office for the day job and the front desk guy came back and knocked on my door. "There's someone here to see you," he told me. "He says he was your teacher a long time ago."

And lo and behold, there was my fifth grade teacher – a guy I haven't seen for at least twenty years, and who lives in a town 2.5 hours away, which is why it was especially odd to see him standing there in my office acting positively giddy that one of his former students has published a book.

I should note that of all the teachers I've had through grade school, middle school, high school and college, this guy was hands-down my favorite, most memorable, most influential instructor. Part of me couldn't believe he'd bothered to track me down to congratulate me about the book, and part of me wanted to reassure him that someone else wrote all the naughty parts.

Anyway, here's a pic of Mr. Baker and me with his two copies of Making Waves:

And last but not least, just a reminder to all my friends near Portland, Oregon that I'll be signing books and trying not to make an ass of myself at the Beaverton Powell's Books this evening at 7 p.m. I'd love to see you there! Details can be found here.

So what are you doing this weekend? Who was your favorite teacher? Is there one in particular you'd love to have read your book someday (or on the flip side, that you quiver in fear will read your book someday?) Please share!

Have a great weekend, everyone!