I spent this past weekend in Santa Barbara (70 degrees in January. Inconceivable), where I spent a good deal of time talking about writing with forty or so really dedicated SCBWI members. Thanks to Alexis O’Neill for the invitation. I had a great time, and one of the most exciting parts of the whole thing was talking about how important boredom and waiting around are in YA fiction. Really. Look at your favorite YAs. There’s so much voice that comes through in boredom and waiting for stuff to happen.

Notably, Ruth and the Green Book is an ALA Notable! We’re so thrilled for Calvin, Gwen, and Floyd. We are so proud of this book turned out.

Finally, I’ve heard so much fantastic feedback on Blythe’s speech at the Morris reception at Midwinter (actually, I’ve heard all the speeches were great). If anyone within the sound of my voice made a recording, I’d love to hear it. And one particularly quotable bit from the speech will be making its way to a T-shirt very soon, so watch this space for details.