- If you’re interested in registering for the Writing & Illustrating for Young Readers conference and want to take my class but don’t know if you qualify (or are just not sure which class to take), contact the conference through its site. I don’t decide who is in my class, and they will help you figure it out. By the way, did I mention that my beautiful and talented editor Jennifer Hunt will be there?

- I read two books on my trip to Houston—one on the flight there, and one on the flight back. (Good thing I took the actual books and not the Kindle, because, as a slow reader, I needed every second of reading time, including taxi-ing and the time it takes to get to 10,000 feet!) The books aren’t out yet: Matthew Quick’s SORTA LIKE A ROCK STAR and Andrew Auseon’s FREAK MAGNET. Two uniquely beautiful YA books coming later this year, both about love if different kinds.

- At the SLC airport I also picked up Jaron Lanier’s YOU ARE NOT A GADGET, because I’ve been reading about this book all over the place and it sounds exactly like what I’m tryin’ to say myself, yo, only I barely grasp how the phone works so it’s been hard to articulate why, though I love technology, it worries me so. I just started the book and, whoah. So far it is more like philosophy than anything (it is a manifesto, after all); a philosophy we need to give real thought to right now. If you don’t know about Lanier, he was a pioneer of open source culture, so this is a critique is coming from within, not from a hysterical outsider. I want you to read it so we can talk about it. I believe it is a manifesto that I will be signing onto. Also it has a cool cover:

Shop Indie Bookstores

- Read Laurie Halse Anderson’s post about book piracy. Even successful authors like Laurie are not rich enough to give away books for free. But, really, it’s not about that. Though it pains me to say it, even authors who are bajillionaires and write slasher pulp with the help of a staff need to be paid for their work. That’s how it works. Piracy is stealing, and stealing is wrong. Borrowing, however, is perfectly legal, and that’s why we have libraries. “But my library doesn’t have your book.” Ask for it! You can request that your library system acquire the book. Get a few friends to do the same and chances are good it will eventually get into the collection. Meanwhile, there are thousands of other books to read while you wait! Hey, I am not nearly rich enough to buy every book that we want to read. I usually have 10-15 books checked out from the library at a time. The free library system is one of the things that makes this country great! No matter how poor you are, if you’ve got a library card and you can read, you are one powerful person.