Friday Five

1. Congratulations to Erin Bowman, who won WITHER and WHERE SHE WENT from my first Quarterly Books I <3 Giveaway. And super-big-enormous congrats to Erin for her shiny three-book deal with HarperTeen for THE LAICOS PROJECT. I can’t wait to read it, and I’m really lucky because I have it waiting in my email!

2. Congrats to Mindee Arnett, who won KAT, INCORRIGIBLE and CLARITY. And if you didn’t win, don’t despair! I love to share my favorite books and there’ll be a new batch of favorites in July!

3. Speaking of favorites, I saw an amazing show last night: Mike Daisey’s THE AGONY AND ECSTASY OF STEVE JOBS. If you’re in DC, I highly recommend you see it and it’s only playing through April 17 at Woolly Mammoth. It was funny as hell, but it also made me think deeply about consumerism and the human cost of our gadgets. Daisey smacks you in the face with some really important stuff, but never in a preachy or judgmental way. It’s crazy hard to do socially-active theatre that well. I don’t know that I’ve EVER seen it done that well, in fact.

4. This has been a really exciting week for me. My first author interview, with a fabulous librarian friend, is up over at Hey Boo Books. And I had my author photos taken yesterday

5. I have been crazy-busy at the day job between royalty season and the end of the fiscal year and an upcoming editorial committee meeting, all coinciding with going part-time at the end of the month. I am also launching into my edits, which are due in May. And I’m thinking big thinky thoughts. We met with a financial advisor this week who has a refreshingly holistic approach and asked us to really think about our lifestyle and our lives and our dreams. It’s tremendously exciting, but there’s also a sense of Wow, my life is changing RIGHT NOW that can be a little overwhelming. So if I’m a little slow with emails or a little scarce about commenting on blogs, that’s why. I think everything will be better in May when I can devote more time to the writing side of things.