This is Day 2, no, Day 3, right? where is the coffee??

The trip down to New York started with a surprise: Amtrak was on time - AND - it stayed on schedule!

I set up a little office for myself in my seat and worked for six hours in utter peace. If I were rich, I might just ride the train all over the country and write.

Dinner Thursday was with a group of teachers from Florida, including Professor Joan Kaywell whose book Dear Author: Letters of Hope continues to get rave reviews. I got to meet this wonderful family at dinner: from the left, (grandma) Barbara, (daughter) Bree, and (mom) Tamara who is the Florida English Teacher of the Year.

It's nice to see an actual teenager at these things.



Robert Lipsyte and Neal Shusterman were also at dinner.

Yesterday started with a great walk down 9th Avenue to the Javits Center for the panel on YA fiction and Sexuality, chaired by She Who Knows Most Everything, Teri Lesesne, aka professornana

We spoke to a huge crowd.

It was standing room only. We could have talked all morning. Thank you everyone for the great questions and for sharing your stories about using our books in the classroom.

Highlight of the day for me was finally meeting Rita Williams-Garcia!!

When I wasn't signing books, I was stalking other authors, like Scott Westerfeld.

And Avi.

I have more to tell, but it's time to head back to the convention. More later!