So many things to take note of starting with:

1. My book launch was Saturday night at the local library hosted by the local indy bookstore and it was fabulous! Lots of folks there who I did not know who came just to see a slideshow on Alaska flying and they asked lots of questions and they bought books (more than two dozen that night and another two dozen sold before the event). The bookstore folks were pleased as punch and I managed to talk and work the presentation without messing up. Huzzah!

2. The Holiday Book Fair for Ballou High School has ended and we sold more than 110 books off the Powells wish list. I will be sure to post about how things go on their end as the books arrived but wanted to say how delighted I am to be part of this and that we have, yet again, helped to expand the library of this Washington DC school.

3. For your holiday shopping needs, can I please direct you to the auction Magick for Terri? In support of editor extraordinaire Terri Windling (who supported me early on and is an amazing writer, editor and all around literary wonder woman), lots of folks have donated lots of things (from books to editing services to handmade scarves and cookies and chocolates and an actual piece of the green glass sea and on and on) to help raise some funds. I was thrilled to put up a signed copy of MAP and I'll personalize it, wrap it and priority mail ship it wherever you like (along with some AK flying pics). Great gift and a great cause, so do head over and bid (green glass sea!).

4. John Scalzi is hosting a week of all sorts of holiday shopping recs. I'll be checking in tomorrow to talk about some books I've loved this year and reading all week to see what I might have missed (literary and otherwise).

5. And speaking of recs, Pam is doing the Mother Reader thing again with book/gift combos. She has more than 150 titles listed and it is amazing to see what she's pulled together.

6. As a corollary to Mother Reader's lists, can I suggest thinking about book/magazine combos? Like Beauty Queens by Libba Bray and Teen Vogue or Julie and Julia and some cooking magazines (you could even throw in the movie for that one). You can really go crazy with this idea if you want - a title from a southern author and a copy of Garden & Gun or a title from a New Englander and a copy of Yankee. Or any nature title and Orion. (You can get all these at any B&N pretty much.) You can also just buy someone a stack of magazines as a gift. I always put them in my husband's stocking and a bunch of lit mags would be great for any fiction reader. (You can order many of them, past & current, from Powells.)

Look for something offbeat or if you have a decorating or fashion fan then splurge and get them some British or Aussie titles - I have a cousin completely addicted to those.

7. Just got an email from Melissa Jackson, the librarian at Ballou High School. She is so happy, so so so happy. (Her email had man exclamation points.) I am now very happy too.

8. There is some potential magazine interest in MAP, but no confirmation yet so I won't tell (fear of jinx). But at least some stuff is happening. I am going to spend this week and next (while not knee deep in holiday wonderfulness) sending out emails to folks and seeing what I can do. But I feel hopeful right now and that is always a good thing. (Like an early Christmas gift.)

9. New issue of Bookslut should be going up today. More on that tomorrow. (But man, did I ever recommend some AWESOME books this time.)

10. If you are the slightest bit interested in reading the literary biography of the year then I recommend Hemingway's Boat. It is about so much more than Hemingway - about so many fascinating people who have been so overlooked by history and who have such interesting stories to tell. It's a textbook in how to write around your subject and how to write about someone in a new and refreshing way. Really enjoying it a lot.

There are probably typos in this entry. I promise to reread it in the morning and fix them all!