Some stuff I've been up to lately that I thought I'd share: 

Need some cheer?

I'm in a coffee shop writing:  I have officially begun writing the fourth Ruby Oliver book, entitled (maybe) Real Live Boyfriends. It's frigid outside. I have tea and a bran muffin. A bunch of writerly types are looking at their laptops nearby, sittin gon old printed couches. The espresso machine is whirring in the background. 

I have a good job.

And since it's snowing, it seems like a really great time to show you the cover for the THIRD Roo book, The Treasure Map of Boys:

In stores, July 28, 2009. 

I LOVE THIS COVER.  There are marshmallow snow men in the book. And metaporical snow men,too.

Here's the official flap copy:

Ruby is back at Tate Prep, and it’s her thirty-seventh week in the state of Noboyfriend. Her panic attacks are bad, her love life is even worse, and what’s more: 
Noel is writing her notes, Jackson is giving her frogs, Gideon is helping her cook, and Finn is making her brownies. Rumors are flying, and Ruby’s already-sucky reputation is heading downhill. 
Not only that, she’s also: running a bake sale, learning the secrets of heavymetal therapy, encountering some seriously smelly feet, defending the rights of pygmy goats, and bodyguarding Noel from unwanted advances.
In this companion novel to The Boyfriend List and The Boy Book, Ruby struggles to secure some sort of mental health, to understand what constitutes a real friendship, and to find true love—if such a thing exists.

Later on, I'll post excerpts and maybe have an ARC giveaway. 

Oh, I found another photo on the NBA site that will show you my dress! Which was gold.

(If you go to the site, you will see all the photos of the amazing people who were there, none of w whom I met. Like Steven Pinker. Gail Godwin. John Irving. Erica Jong. Eric Bogosian. Anna Wintour. Joan Didion. Candace Bushnell. Stephen Daldry. )

Still. I breathed the air with them, yeah?

 

Check out these photos from the National Book Awards teen press conference!