1. I am panicking, just a little. Because I thought that I had until July 20th until Linger started getting into the hands of the public. I had 17 more days of increasing neurosis planned.

2. This is because I have been barraged by e-mails from readers who have pre-ordered copies of Linger from Barnes & Noble and have since gotten e-mails from B&N telling them that their copies of Linger had been shipped and would be getting to them on Monday and Tuesday of next week.

3. This sort of unexpected surprise always makes me high strung and more prone to baking, especially of the gigantic sort. When I found out that Barnes & Noble pre-orders had shipped, I got the urge to bake cookies. When I found out that you could buy and download the audiobook version of Linger on Audible.com, too, suddenly I decided I needed to make cookies the size of my head.

4. I listened again to the audio samples I'd been sent and discovered, again, that Cole's narrator sounds like sex on a stick. Back when they were casting for audio narrators (we still have the same Grace narrator, whom I love), they had me give my input into who I wanted for Cole, Grace, and the new Sam. So we have smexy Cole, cold Isabel, and Sam the hobbit. I hope readers -- um, listeners -- like them. Otherwise I will feel Personally Responsible and be forced to rend my clothing and make bigger cookies.

5. Lest you all run out and buy books from Barnes and Noble & Audible, please remember to be kind to indie bookstores and that you can buy a signed copy of Linger anywhere in the U.S. or Canada by ordering from Fountain Bookstore. OR you can come see me on tour in California and Texas.

6. I completely forgot about posting Linger music yesterday, because I was saving my energy for flailing and panicking. So today I wanted to post something Completely Different. I don't just listen to singy music while I'm writing. I also listen to a ton of instrumental music, especially soundtracks, especially when a scene takes me a long time and I need something to fade back more. While writing Linger, I didn't really have a particular soundtrack to hang my hat on until my youngest brother gave me a copy of THE LAST SAMURAI for my birthday. It worked pretty darn well, much to my surprise.

So here's one of my favorite tracks from the soundtrack (though I recommend all of it if you like this one). (As always, buy these suckers legally, 'kay? Thanks.) This is "Spectres in the Fog" by the always incredible Hans Zimmer.



Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go eat 14 cookies the size of my head and flail my arms some more. Have a good holiday.