​I'm looking forward to meeting Cheryl Klein from Scholastic. At the conference last year I met with Brian Farrey, the acquisitions editor for Flux. He said my book, A Kiss and a Curse, reminded him of A Curse Dark as Gold by Elizbeth C. Bunce. I read it and found out that the editor was Cheryl Klein.

​There's an ongoing debate about e-books and self publishing and the growing number of ways to be published outside of traditional publishing. Part of me wants to dig in deep and resist these changes. Can't we go back to the old way? I write a pretty good book. I submit it to a few editors. One likes it because the writing is beautiful and there's a lot to work with, but it's not perfect. Then I work with the editor to make the changes and it's a better book, a stronger book, and I've learned more about writing and revising in the process. Then the book is published. I attend a book event at a local bookstore and sign actual copies of my book. All my friends come and they tell their friends and it sells moderately well. Then I write another book and so on and don't have to worry about a web presence or linking or doing a book trailer. But technology marches on. We've had a friend who is a remarkable photographer do our family portraits for the last few years. They are beautiful, well done, professional. We get lots of great comments from people who see the portrait. But our photographer took a job teaching high school photography in another state because now with digital cameras and on-line technology and editing programs, everyone is a photographer. Many more people have taken up the hobby and the business of photography and can do it much cheaper than our professional photographer who went to college to learn the art. He's accepted that and moved on. What else can he do? And now I have friends who do beautiful work and many more people have well-done family portraits in their homes. That's how writing has become. With computers and access to editors and agents through the internet and conferences, there's a lot more writers and authors. A submission must be much stronger and compelling. There's also a lot more good books to read. This summer my children have gone through at least 100 books already and my teenage daughters want recommendations from their friends and more ideas for books to read. So I'll flow along with the tide of the technology and have my children help me improve at facebook and blogs and goodreads and bug my brother's for help with their technological savvy. See you in print, somewhere.