Wonderful mail

I received something very awesome in the mail yesterday: a little package from a 14-year-old reader (whose blog can be found HERE). It included, among many fun things, an adorable hand-crocheted elephant for the baby, a drawing of Magpie holding a human-size chocolate bar (remember: Magpie loves chocolate!), and a brilliantly written piece of fiction entitled HOW THE LAST PAGE OF THE DREAMDARK SERIES IS NOT ALLOWED TO GO. IF IT GOES LIKE THIS I WILL DROP IT IN THE BATHTUB. There follows devastating imagining of the conclusion to my series in which the forest of Dreamdark is laid waste by marauding humans and Magpie sits numb over Talon's dead body. Then turns him into a tree. Which then burns down. (!!!!!!!) Did I say it was brilliantly written? It fills me with complete glee. There is, at the end, a hand-written plea to not kill Talon. I loved this entire package! Thank you so much, Lexi. It completely made my week! Month!

(Lexi, by the way, was one of the winners of my Silksinger early-draft "contest" -- she read and gave feedback back in the summer before I did a new round of revisions.)

In other package news, funnily enough, at the same time that I mailed some cookies and other things to Stephanie, she mailed some cookies and other things to us! They reached their destinations one day apart, as if they were a planned cookie exchange, but in fact it was a total coincidence! Thank you Steph! (And for the baby's very first board books, too!)

Bloggers are awesome package-senders, and I got a terrific one a little while back from the queen of all blog-friend gift-giving, Heather, who famously (to me), knitted a doll version of me complete with pink hair and a tiny copy of Blackbringer! Included in this new package, along with stationery and goodies and coolness like a little book about zombies on picnics, was: a gorgeous hand-made baby blanket! Now, the thing is, this was before I told anyone I was pregnant!!! I mean, I was pregnant, but I hadn't said so. Heather has pregnancy telepathy!!!!

Thank you lovely gifty ladies. I [heart] blog-friends!