In case you hadn’t guessed, I am not a “sporty” gal by nature. In fact, I have been known to flee from organized athletic competitions of just about any kind. (Except for badminton. I’ll never say no to badminton. Or its fetching footwear.)

Color me surprised, then, when the biggest scene in my current WIP ended up being a sporting event. Whaaaaa? How did I get there? I don’t know, but it happened, and it seems to be where the story needs to go. I feel a little bit like Janeane Garofalo at the end of The Truth About Cats and Dogs, where she’s on roller skates holding a leash with a big slobbering dog at the other end of it, pulling her along. Ultimately, the dog leads her to dreamboat Ben Chaplin and away from Uma Thurman, so it’s not a completely hopeless metaphor. Though I think Ms. Garofalo would agree that winsome heroine, adorably unruly dog, and Ben Chaplin dreaminess aside, the movie itself is pretty terrible.

So…I knew the sporty scene was coming, and I DREADED writing it, because I suffer from the aforementioned sports-aversion, as well as chronic cases of failure-phobia and being-thought-of-as-a-hack syndrome. But finally, yesterday, I wrote it! And it’s kind of terrible! But I can fix it later. For now, I can move on to the scene I really want to write. It’s the last scene in the story, and it features a character I love, who has a big unexpected moment waiting for her. I hope it’s going to work.

In other news, I just got more specifics about my appearance at the Burlington Book Festival on Sunday, September 25. I’ll be appearing with the lovely and brilliant Elizabeth Bluemle from 12:30–1pm, and on something called a Super Panel from 3–4pm, where you can get a load of this line up:

SARAH ALBEE, SARAH ARONSON, JEANNINE ATKINS, ELIZABETH BLUEMLE, JO KNOWLES, KARA LAREAU, CYNTHIA LORD, KATE MESSNER, AMMI-JOAN PAQUETTE, TANYA LEE STONE & LINDA URBAN

Can you think of a group of more kick-ass authors? I myself cannot. If you’re in the Vermont area, I hope you’ll come to this shindig. I’m not even that great at math and I know Vermont + autumn + books = duh.