You know, one day I will actually WRITE. No more conferences, no more book talks, no more running around! I swear I will sit down and write MY NEXT NOVEL!!! But until then, keep reading to find out about some fun recent events I attended with librarians, writers, and oh, some news about the Cybils!

Yesterday (Thurs. 10/23), I attended the 2008 Readers' Advisory Workshop on Young Adult Literature, spearheaded by Deborah Raia and the County of Los Angeles Public Library Collection Development Services. It was a morning chock full of enthusiastic YA and children's librarians promoting the latest hip books and potential award winners, as well as a fantastic speech by fantasy writer BRANDON SANDERSON and yours truly. Pictured above are the 100-plus librarians who attended and a photo of Brandon and I.

BRANDON SANDERSON talked about how he was a reluctant reader as a child. He discussed how the world of fantasy finally transformed him into a book lover. He described how fantasy was about the epic hero's quest, and how that journey has changed for writers today (the old versus new fantasy novels). He also talked about when he started writing his first novel, he learned that most writers had to write about five novels before they finally sold one. Instead of feeling overwhelmed and discouraged about that, Brandon said he felt "relieved." In other words, he had plenty of time to get a novel published! He could take his time! I loved Brandon's refreshing and positive attitude towards that! And his patience and hard work paid off...  Brandon's latest novel, THE HERO OF AGES (Tor 2008) debuted at No. 21 on the New York Times Bestseller List this week! Congratulations, Brandon! For more information on Brandon, please check out his website here: http://www.brandonsanderson.com/index.php

I then gave a speech about how I became a writer, how my books got published, and then talked about the  history and recent trends in Young Adult literature. Some of my talk included these fun tidbits...

-- From googling on the Internet, I learned that 1937 marks the earliest documented use of the term YA for teen books?

-- I was scouring a fantastic introduction in my very ancient tattered 1976 paperback of LITTLE WOMEN (one of my all time favorite children's novels) which talks about the history of American children's literature. Guess what one of the most popular books for children was before Louisa May Alcott's novel was published? (deep breath)...

“A Token for Children: Being an Exact Account of the Conversion, Holy and Exemplary Lives and Joyous Deaths of several young children. To which is added A token for the children of New England of some Examples of Children in whom the Fear of God was remarkably budding before they died in several parts of New England, preserved and Published for the Encouragement of Piety in other Children.”

Ick! LOL! Back in the 1700 and 1800s, everyone in America was so worried about saving the "... infant soul from hell" so most children's and teen oriented fiction back then was all about extremely wicked children who went to hell and very saintly children who obeyed their parents and prayed all the time and ended up in heaven. The American Tract Society of 1825 declared "a single novel could undermine the effects of a whole string of sermons," hence why fictional novels and plays were avoided like the plague back then when teaching children and teens!

-- And I found this beautiful academic lecture on the Internet by Katherine Kim Proukou on “Young Adult Literature: Rite of Passage or Rite of Its Own” in which she writes, “Myths swirl about young adult literature, from Huckleberry Finn to Harry Potter: It’s literature for teenagers; it’s literature about teenagers; it’s stylistic and simplified literature; it’s overly didactic and, of course, shorter than a real novel. It is a rite of passage. But it is much more. It is about life, its histories and potentialities, transformations and choices; it is about conflicts between the claim of the individual and the claims of culture (Freud); it is about life’s fantastic flux of being. It is about new beginnings and other directions; of young heroes who wind up threads and carry wisdom, of the child – one who sees, clearly, that the emperor has no clothes. It is not only about rites of passage, but is also a rite of its own.”

Isn't that a beautiful and inspirational passage? I loved her essay! You can read the whole essay here: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa4063/is_/ai_n14716647

Thanks again to Deborah and all the folks at the LA Public Library Collection Development Services for a great day of book talks by a group of passionate book readers, librarians, and literacy professionals!

But that's not all! My Thursday ended with a quick trip to a book launch party sponsored by BOOK SOUP to celebrate the debut of JORDANNA FRAIBERG's YA novel "IN YOUR ROOM" (Razorbill 2008). It was a fun party packed with glamorous Hollywood types (I swear, all the women including Jordanna looked like supermodels) and us scruffy writers who never see the light of day because we're always writing in our batcaves. Oh, and the food was yummy (spring rolls, chicken skewers, and these amazing coconut macaroons... I ate like 20 of those coconut cookies!)

Jordanna's novel is about a retro-chic LA fashionista named Molly Hill who becomes friends via long distance email with laidback granola boy Charlie Richards when their families switch houses for the summer... and of course the two grow closer eventhough they're a thousand miles apart and have never met in person. Jordanna's writing style is bright and funny and poignant, and the girl knows how to tell a compelling story! Below is a picture of Jordanna and I... and there's also a picture of other fellow LAYAS who attended the party, including (L-R): BEN ESCH ("Sophomore Undercover"/Hyperion 2009), MARK WILLIAMS ("Danger Boy: City of Ruins"/Candlewick 2008) and MICHAEL REISMAN ("Simon Bloom, the Gravity Keeper"/Dutton 2008).

Congratulations, Jordanna, on your book debut! For more information on Jordanna, visit her website here: http://jordannafraiberg.com/

And for more information on the LAYAS, a group of Los Angeles Young Adult authors, please check our myspace here at: http://www.myspace.com/loslayas

Finally, I also found out that GOOD ENOUGH was nominated for the 2008 Cybils! The Cybils is the Children's & Young Adult Bloggers Literary Awards. The Cybils will announce the finalists on January 1, 2009 and the winners on February 14, 2009. For more info, check out their website at: http://dadtalk.typepad.com/cybils/and for a list of the YA nominations, go here: http://dadtalk.typepad.com/cybils/2008/10/2008-nominati-5.html

Thanks to everyone who nominated my book - I am honored to be a part of this list!

Before I enter my writing batcave to write all weekend on my next YA novel, here's a quick reminder - I'll be speaking at the Texas Book Festival on Saturday November 2 from 2 to 3 p.m. I'll post a more detailed blog before I leave, but until then, you can check out the book festival website here: http://www.texasbookfestival.org/

Back to my batcave!