Monday, Monday…

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O, Life is a Glorious Cycle of Song

A Medley of Extemporanea;

And Love is a Thing which can Never Go Wrong,

And I am Marie of Rumania.

-Dorothy Parker, from Not So Deep as a Well (1937)

Hey, hope you had a great weekend!

I enjoy the Library of Congress’ Flickr page very much; every once in awhile they add a few new photographs from their extensive archives, and I wade back into history. If you’re in need of a few photographic prompts to get your writing, do click the picture and wander through their collection, which is organized by decades and other helpful tags.

What a great weekend for YA speculative fiction! First, the Nebula Award was won by a YA novel, and then, The Andre Norton Award, which specifically is for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy, went to Flora’s Dare: How a Girl of Spirit Gambles All to Expand Her Vocabulary, Confront a Bouncing Boy Terror, and Try to Save Califa from a Shaky Doom (Despite Being Confined to Her Room), by Ysabeau Wilce. Go, Ursula LeGuin! Ysabeau! Whoo!

I’ve been invited on a scavenger hunt as a guest of Kay Cassidy, whose 2010 debut YA series, The Cinderella Society sounds like a wonderful — and mysterious — combination of some fabulous help from the people on What Not to Wear and an unusual secret society. Can’t wait to read that! To keep herself busy until her book comes out, Kay has organized a way for authors to keep librarians and libraries — the root of support for authors — in the loop with a really nifty Scavenger Hunt. And though it’s really cool and fun, what brightens me up is Kay’s idea to Spread Some Cheer. If you’re down in the dumps, read what authors say about their favorite librarians, teachers and booksellers. We’re grateful to the awesome people who put our books into the hands of readers, and I’m so glad to be a part of paying it forward.

NOW TAKING ORDERS: If you love unique short fiction, you’ll want to read TBR Tallboy Magazine, edited by Leila Roy. Order your copy now! (Full disclosure: a story of mine is in there! But there’s tons of other good stuff. I swear.)

The Body Image Tour Continues. Please especially read Sara Zarr’s post from this past weekend. And don’t forget that today is Laurie Halse Anderson’s day to rock the house.

Don’t forget to wander past Small Fictions some time this week.