Amanda Hocking

It’s only four days until Switched hits stores. I am sorta freaking out about it, but in a really awesome way.

I had a spectacular if exhausting holiday weekend. I ended up sleeping pretty much all of Monday to catch on the weekend’s festivities, and this whole week has felt like a mess of catching up and getting ready for  Switched to come out and for all the traveling I’m going to do.

I have an idea for a fun vlog where I pronounce all the words in Switched that people seem to trip over, and I’m going to write a blog letting you know some other fun facts about the book. I don’t know for sure when these blogs will post, but I’m going to say one will post over the weekend, and the other will post on Monday.

Oh! Also, I want to issue a challenge to all of you. I’m super psyched about the book being in stores, so if you see Switched in stores and take a fun picture of yourself with it in the store (assuming that this doesn’t go against store policy), and share it with me (via Twitter or Facebook or blogs), I’ll post my favorites on my blog. But I’m going to emphasize – don’t do anything that will break the law or store rules. Fun is fun, but illegal is bad.

I do have some sad news, though. My beloved turtle, Jasper Tortuga, passed away this week. He’d gotten a respiratory infection in early November, and even though he went to the vets and took medication, he never fully recovered from it.

RIP Jasper Tortuga

While I was very sad to see him go and he will be greatly missed, I do have a new addition to my family. He’s a Russian tortoise named Gusgus Tortuga. He won’t replace Jasper, but he’s tough and adorable, so I think he’ll be a good fit for my family.

Gusgus Tortuga

 Also, I have new glasses! Check them out!

So… I’ll blog more later. I hope you all had a good holiday, and that the 2012 is as fun for you as 2011 has been for me!