We shot enough footage for a short film, and we found movie-worthy talent, so if the Don't Touch trailer looks and feels like a mini movie, I'm officially #sorrynotsorry.

I love book trailers and knew I wanted to make one for Don't Touch, but I knew I'd need help from someone more filmically inclined. When I asked my bud Matt Miller if he'd like to help, I fully expected him to be too busy. After all, his Teachers webseries had been picked up for pilot and he'd just signed on with commercial production company, Cap Gun Collective. 

As it turns out, not only was Matt up for directing my book trailer, he brought a bunch of his highly skilled friends with him. 

We held a casting session to draw from Chicago's fantastic pool of talent and found the perfect Caddie and Peter, along with some other fine young actors to play students: Paige Collins, Ryan Goldsher, Daniel Kyri, Clare O'Connor, Hannah Toriumi, and Aidan Traynor.

Here's Matt with our Caddie, Mia Hulen. Yes, he's that tall, and yes, she's that tiny.

Peter was played by Brando Crawford, who was happily familiar with the term "adorkable" and who savvily borrowed these glasses for the audition and shoot. 

I mean . .  . if these guys aren't adorkable, I don't know what is.

The shoot went splediforously well. We were able to shoot on The Vittum Theater stage, a classic theater with a beautiful proscenium arch, where I've had the pleasure of acting a few times. Matt and our producer, PJ Fishwick, found some perfect Alabama-esque woods and railroad tracks. And another friend found us a house in Winnetka with a pool! 

Then, I got to hang out with Matt and our brilliant editor, Travis Hockswender, at the WhiteHouse to check out the rough cut. 

Composer, Christian Moder, wrote original music for the trailer. For lyrics, we settled on a Hamlet stanza and a few extra Don't Touch-ish lines, and a phenomenal vocalist, Katie Todd, total rock star, recorded them right in front of us. 

I whispered to Matt, "I feel like I'm on a reality TV show." You know, where they make the Bachelors or Bachelorettes scribble down some lyrics and go in a recording booth even though they all have terrible voices? This was like that in terms of fanciness and coolness, but the exact opposite in terms of suckiness. In fact, I'm in love with the track they created: "We Fall." And it may even make its way toward being a full song. 

I can't wait to share the trailer with you, but with so many talented people doing us favors, we need to wait a teensy bit longer for the finished product. As Matt might say, "soon, my sweet doves, soon!"

I'm on vacation with the fam--Mom, Dad, and sis--which means we're all sharing a pret-ty small space at the beach. But one of the escapes is this amazing swing bed on the porch. My sister took this picture through a window (so, really, there's no escape, but this time I didn't mind).

As you can see, I was reading E. Lockhart's We Were Liars--quickly, because it's soooo compelling. It's kind of the perfect book to read on a family vacation, even when your digs aren't quite as resplendent as the Sinclairs'. For me, this book wasn't about "the twist"--I loved it but didn't read it as a twist. Without worrying about that, it's still mysterious and driven and full of consequence, and yes, it made me cry, but the dogs helped me through.

Some of my goofy theater friends got together for a Memorial Day BBQ and managed to sneakily film this in my presence without me catching on. Victoria R. Golden asked these nuts what they thought my book was about--and a few even came close.

For the record, Don't Touch is definitely not about:

1. magical powers
2. superpowers
3. genetic sticky-skin defects
4. a galactically imperialistic female president with genocidal tendencies
5. katanas
6. leprosy
7. hobbits
8. vampires
9. crime-fighting mummies
10. teenage natural history enthusiasts
11. fried chicken
12. Lithuania
13. Mega Man
14. Romeo & Juliet

Though it may include:

1. a discussion of superpowers
2. gloves (albeit not lace ones)
3. theater as an outlet to let "feelings out into society"
4. a crush on a boy in a play
5. a gay teen (though not one who has problems with touching)
6. a reference to time travel
7. love
8. fighting
9. Alabama
10. coming of age
11. divorce
12. OCD
13. Shakespeare
14. moving, world-changing genius (according to my excellent friends who have not yet read the book)

I joined Instagram mid-year. I'm really proud that one of my greatest hits is of Batman serenading the children at my after-school program with Barrel of Monkeys.

Fall is my favorite season. My birthday is the day before Halloween.

I had to be a child of the corn on my second visit to Richardson's Adventure Farm, aka the World's LARGEST Corn Maze! This year's maze was Beatles themed. I think I'm somewhere in Ringo's nose.

Oh, yeah, and did I mention the pig race? That's Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds right there.