I just discovered Your Neighborhood Librarian's blog, which is especially good stuff if you're a picture book person.

And she turned me on to Fridgewatcher. Am I insane that I love this site?

All the coolest kids have asked their blog readers for questions (read: Justine Larbalestier and Maureen Johnson)
and
I am having my site redesigned by the most awesome Theo Black.
PLUS,
somehow a huge number of people have emailed me lately with questions for book reports and whatnot, which I really don't have time to answer, though I feel bad if I do not,
because of course, I am actually VERY FLATTERED to be the subject chosen for a school project
and would never want a reader's project to be worse because I didn't answer her email.
SO
all that is a long-winded way of saying:
I need to update my FAQ.

So in the comments below (not on livejournal, here on the regular blog), ask me anything you want to know. I can't promise to be ANYWHERE as amusing as Maureen, whom I suspect is not always telling the complete truth. But I can be at least a little amusing and will post answers on my blog within a couple days and put them in the FAQ, too!

xo

E

Yesterday I was interviewed on Cynthia Leitich Smith's awesome literature weblog, talking about Dramarama and the books coming out in Spring 2008.

It was the epic chat! I was on Readergirlz for three hours!
I mean, I was allowed to leave at 9, but it took me until 11 to answer all the questions.
You guys were AWESOME, people who were there.
Really unusual and fun questions. Lots of exuberant musical theater geekitude and intelligent writerly stuff too.
If you are at all interested in my upcoming projects, in my YA novelist pals, in my favorite musicals and ice cream flavors, and all the Dramarama dirt I really think anyone could want, go on myspace first and then read the chat!

TONIGHT! Oct 24.
I'll be chatting at the readergirlz group forum about Dramarama, The Boyfriend List, How to Be Bad, Disreputable History, whatever else! Ask me, and I'll answer.

8:00 PM eastern, 5:00 pacific -- but I may be a little late! I have a scheduling issue. So if YOU'RE running late, log on anyhow. And if you're there early, hang out -- I promise I'll be there, and will stay for a full hour.

It's all on MySpace. Just friend ReaderGirlz and their group forum (you have to do both!) -- and then every SINGLE NIGHT IN OCTOBER, you can chat with a different teen author. It's a celebration of
YALSA's Teen Read Week.

A refresher on how to do it:
Go to readergirlz group on myspace, once YOU are signed in to myspace. (remember, make sure you have followed the instructions above re: friending and joining readergirlz).

At the readergirlz group site, scroll past the Welcome and Member faces down to the forum.
Find the thread entitled “October 24th, E. Lockhart” (or the date and name of whatever other author you are checking out) and double-click it.
At 5:00 PDT / 8:00 EDT, the chat starts and I'll say hello. You can post questions and I'll answer them. To see the answers, return to the forum and refresh.

I think, if you have not already signed up for my mailing list (in the column on the right, unless you're reading this blog on a feed) that you should do it.

You just plug in your email addy, and then when an email automatically arrives from me saying "really? you want to be on the list?" you open it and click on the link inside the email to say "yes." (You have to do this second part or you are not signed up.

I send out email probably 4x a year at most, and I wouldn't go telling you you should sign up except for this.
How to Be Bad Sweepstakes.
And I mean, sweepstakes. In late December.

Reminder: I'll be chatting on October 24th at the readergirlz group forum about Dramarama, The Boyfriend List, How to Be Bad, Disreputable History, whatever else! Ask me, and I'll answer.

8:00 PM eastern, 5:00 pacific -- but I may be a little late! I have a scheduling issue. So if YOU'RE running late, log on anyhow. And if you're there early, hang out -- I promise I'll be there, and will stay for a full hour.

It's all on MySpace. Just friend ReaderGirlz and their group forum (you have to do both!) -- and then every SINGLE NIGHT IN OCTOBER, you can chat with a different teen author. It's a celebration of
YALSA's Teen Read Week.

Here's the coming line-up -- everyone at 8pm eastern.

October 21. Sonya Sones
22. Lisa Yee
23. Carolyn Mackler
24. E. Lockhart
25. Janet Lee Carey
26. Gaby Triana
27. Lauren Myracle
28. Holly Black
29. Cynthia Leitich Smith
30. Dia Calhoun
31. Stephenie Meyer

Now, it's not SUPER obvious what to do, so this is it:
Go to readergirlz group on myspace, once YOU are signed in to myspace. (remember, make sure you have followed the instructions above re: friending and joining readergirlz).

At the readergirlz group site, scroll past the Welcome and Member faces down to the forum.
Find the thread entitled “October 24th, E. Lockhart” (or the date and name of whatever other author you are checking out) and double-click it.
At 5:00 PDT / 8:00 EDT, the chat starts and I'll say hello. You can post questions and I'll answer them. To see the answers, return to the forum and refresh.

More on greening yourself up and getting rid of catalogs (see earlier post):
Go here! Catalog Choice! It's so exciting!

Thanks to photographer to various teen lit goddesses, Heather Weston, for this one.

The ever-fantastic Mr. Green shows us his library -- in celebration of Teen Read Week.

And you know what I'm NOT reading anymore?
Junk catalogs that come to my house.
I decided to pile up all those that arrive that I don't have any plans or dreams of buying from, and cancel them. I never subscribed in the first place.

I'm keeping only J. Crew, Boden and that catalog with the $45 coffee cakes.

So far, I have canceled 43 catalogs. 43 catalogs!
And I suspect I am not done yet.

I did it while cleaning my house, so it didn't even take any extra time from my day. You could do it during commercial breaks.

Green yourself up people. This is an easy way to do it!
(pun was not intended, but now I realize John Green/Green-not-wasting-earth-resources is indeed a pun. so now we have a double entendre of sorts: Green yourself up!)

There are SO MANY BOOKS I've been meaning to blog about and have not, so in honor of Teen Read Week, I'm going to celebrate them all, short and sweet, right here.

Startled by His Furry Shorts and Love is a Many Trousered Thing, by Louise Rennison. Freaking hilarious. Much laughing out loud. Nothing much happens, but I DID NOT CARE, they were so funny.

Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy, by Ally Carter. Delivers more action, more cool spy stuff and more hot boys than I'd Tell You I Love YOu But THen I'd Have to Kill You. Which is saying a lot.

Story of a Girl, by National Book Award nominee, Sara Zarr. I read this ages go and have been wanting to blog about it at greater length, but let me just say here that it is so meticulously accurate about feelings, so smart and sensitive and true.

Twilight, by Stephenie Meyer. Um. I am not done yet. I should never have posted in my "status" on myspace that I was reading this, because all these people keep emailing me and asking what I think, but I am not done! I have been sidetracked by

The Mysterious Benedict Society. Crazy awesome for anyone who loves geniuses and evil boarding schools.
and
Pants on Fire by Meg Cabot. Did I tell you I met her the other day and we wrote in a cafe together with various other YA novelists? It is true. We did not get much writing done because we were all YAPPING. I had just finished reading Pants on Fire but didn't tell Meg how much I liked it because I am a dork face. But it is very funny. With hot hot hot hot boys and creative lies and quohogs.

And here's what's in my bedside pile for future reading:

The Night Tourist by Katherine Marsh, whom I met the other day and she was so nice and ridiculously smart. But has no website, apparently. Probably an indication of intelligence.

Naomi and Eli's No Kiss List, by David Levithan and Rachel Cohn -- whom I saw read recently from the book, and they were so great and funny and interesting on the subject of their ongoing collaboration

Switched, by Jessica Wollman

Marly's Ghost, by David Levithan

The Spell Book of Listen Taylor, by Jaclyn Moriarty

Generation Dead, by Daniel Waters (I have a galley! More on him later in this blog as we will be traveling together in January. Sadly he is not the Daniel Waters who wrote Heathers. He is another Daniel Waters. But I forgive him for not being the other one and am psyched to read his book and jaunt around the country.)