It's been astonishingly warm and sunny this weekend. Yesterday and today I spent hours just sitting on a bench outside, like a turtle in the sun, soaking in Vitamin D. Yesterday I read Elizabeth Wein's A Coalition of Lions while I was out there; today Patrick and I hung out on the bench with Justina and talked about writing, which was lovely. It was almost too hot, which felt delectable after a long chilly, rainy winter and spring. Now I'm lying on the couch reading Liz Williams's Snake Agent, which is just enormous fun. I've really liked all of her books, but in terms of spark and sheer exuberance, this one beats all the rest hands down. I'm so glad it's the first in a series.

I'm continuing to revise Music of the Stars, ever-so-slowly, and today I wrote another 1,300 words of the new, untitled, Regency-era YA fantasy novel. I wish I could come up with a working title, but all the ones I think up (eg, for one horrible example, Moonlight and Highwaymen) make it sound like a bodice-ripper instead of a comic fantasy about a girl who intentionally gets in the way of her older sister's romances...oh well.

Just for the heck of it, here are the opening two lines of Chapter One:

I was fourteen years of age when I chopped off my hair, dressed as a boy, and set off to find adventure, fame, and glory.

I made it almost to the end of my front garden.

So far I'm calling it Kat because that's the heroine's nickname. Someday soon I'll think of a better title...

And now back to another chapter of Music of the Stars!