Tonight is the book launch party for my new book — After Dark: Nightlife in Denver — and honestly, I just want to stay home and clean my house.

That probably sounds really strange, but I just got the keys to my new house. The sellers hadn’t quite finished moving yesterday, so today was the first real day in my new home. We haven’t even started moving yet, since it needs more cleaning, a few big-ticket improvements (central A/C is one of my must-have items), and plenty of paint and little fix-its. It’s not all fun stuff, but it is exciting.

And very, very distracting.

The book promotions continue after tonight, with a full schedule of events starting this week and running through November. I should be thrilled — and I am, one the one hand — but I’m also incoveniently obsessed with getting my house ready and getting moved. On the bright side, I wrote this book last spring, and it will be fun to revisit it. The book publishing process is so much slower than the immediate gratification of writing for a web site, or even the slightly slower schedule of writing for newspapers and magazines, but the end result is incredibly satisfying. So, here I go. I’ll drag myself away from scrubbing hardwoods and planning paint jobs (bummer, huh?) and head to Forest Room 5 for the lauch party tonight. If nothing else, I need a reason to get out of my slobby-cleaning-house clothes, wash my hair and put on a fun outfit. Hmm. This is actually sounding better by the minute. And if you happen to be in the ‘hood? Swing by and say hello.