Shiny and New

I just got back from my family vacation to the Smokies. We rented a summer house/cabin thing on the mountainside, and it was totally gorgeous. It was gorgeous, but I'm glad to be back because there are only so many days I can spend in the company of people 24/7, especially if they are all Asians, which you should know by now, have some of the most obnoxious mannerisms ever. They like to repeat things (jokes, advice, criticism, you name it). They also are horrible at ordering on menus because they are epicly indecisive and tend to squabble about dishes in their native language which only results in very confused waitresses. And, perhaps this is only a my-brother thing, but he is seriously the worst backseat driver I have ever encountered in my life. He can and will point out every single turn you have to make and when you need to change lanes, even with the presence of a GPS. No lie. I wanted to punch everyone in the face by the time I got home.

But I love them, really. Just not for extended periods of time.

Shiny and new things:

1) First 47 pages of The Lost Hero, the first book in Rick Riordan's second Camp Half-Blood series, which comes out OCTOBER 12 (mark that on your calendar, kids). I was so excited when greenconverses linked it to me that I seriously almost peed myself. Well, not seriously. But I was really, really excited. Because I am the PJO fan equivalent of rabid Twi-moms for Twilight. The new main character's name is Jason. I'm hopeful for his potential, judging by the pages, even if I am convinced nobody is ever going to measure up to Percy in terms of literary badassery. Still, characters from the old crew are definitely present in this new series, so I'm pumped to see where it goes. RR rocks my socks, but makes it super hard to get to October!

2) New novel. It's getting more fleshed out by the day. I feel like this is the one I will actually see to the point of agent-worthy. My goals are a little bit different than most people's, in that I am not in a rush to submit to agents, per se. I am happy with just writing and improving for a while before I take that next step, because I don't think I'm ready for it just yet, with my circumstances being what they are. Still, I've learned a lot in the past two novels and also by writing Three, so I think I'm going to take this new one to its logical end. I'm nervous, but also ready to get this show on the road. 

3) The day has been long in coming, and some people now hate me for this, but I've read my first Sarah Dessen novel. I actually enjoyed it, despite my tendency to shy away from chick lit. I have been trying to be more adventurous with my reading tastes in my summer reading list, and I think it's paying off so far. I've read a lot of styles I might not have otherwise. Basically, I'm jumping on the Sarah Dessen bandwagon, and I'm most likely going to check out some of the other books in her rather large collection too. 

Any shiny and new things for you?