I love the loc

Lovely, lovely day.

I may have mentioned that I was dog-sitting this weekend. I have serious dog envy, folks. Now, I’ve known Gracie for seven or eight years now (a fraction of the time I have known her human, who is my best friend) so we understand each other pretty well. Gracie is gorgeous (she’s a random-breed that, back in Florida,would have been called a “Florida red dog” and we keep seeing “Gracies ” all over town), well-behaved, spoiled rotten, and a little princess. She sits around with her paws crossed. And she growls whenever she doesn’t get her way, deep in her throat, like a little lion.

And I mean when ever she doesn’t get her way. Like, after I’ve taken her for her evening walk, if I dare to refill her water bowl before getting food in her dish. Or if I wake her up past her bedtime. Or if I sit on her side of the couch. Or if I don’t scratch her neck for the appropriate number of hours.

Love that dog.

But alas, her humans came home today, so I am again petless.

This morning I went to the Library of Congress, and I got my research card, which I find rather more exciting than you might think about the whole “getting a library card” process. Strangely enough, it was a far more simple process to get into the Library of Congress than it is to get into my own local library. But the LOC Madison building is this vast, windowless, monolithic slab of marble downtown, where every floor is zoned in colors and the staff give directions like “walk to the end of this hall, then turn right, walk to the end of that hall, go past all the reds, and when you hit the blues, that’s where Room 140 is.”

The main LOC building is one of my favorites in all of Washington.

After I got lost trying to get my card (process is simple, fun, and organized), I got lost trying to find the lecture hall where Melissa Marr was speaking about folklore and incorporating same into modern stories. Great speech. I know she’s a once and future teacher, and I can see why — she’s such a natural. I always sound like a doofus when speaking to strangers.

Or even not strangers. I completely forgot my whole spiel at my wedding — all I got out was “I’m so excited to marry you — let’s do it right now!” Still kicking myself over that one.

I was one of the few non-librarians present, and I had a great conversation with the librarians about manga, and steampunk, and why publishers change formats mid-series. Afterwards, the man in charge of the presentation invited me to lunch, so I got to hang out with Melissa, a few librarians, and a Lit PhD candidate, and learn more about her upcoming projects and Harper. Rebecca, the student, is writing a thesis on Rumor Theory, which I wish I’d gotten to chat with her about more, since it sounds so intriguing.

Also, a great band name.

This afternoon, I had a nice long chat with my YA editor about the final tweaks on Rampant, the state of romantic comedy, unicorns we have known, whether or not SB should read my books, and Rites of Spring (Break) — OUT IN A MONTH!!!!!! — an ARC of which she read on her vacation. (She’s a fan — not an editor — of my adult books.)

I’m a little scared of my two editors ever meeting. That much awesome in one place would surely cause a rift in the space-time continuum, right?

Then I had pizza with my best friend, her husband, and Gracie. She was very sweet to me, perhaps trying to show her humans what a good babysitter I was. Or, you know, apologize for the growling.