Colorado Association of Libraries.

I am really getting excited about the talk I'm giving at the Colorado Association of Libraries this Friday. It's my first talk as a big fat important YA author, and I want to do a really good job. I've prepared a power point, I bought a new blazer, and I'm rehearsing with a stop watch. So far, I'm up to thirty minutes, which leaves about ten minutes for questions. I really, really hope there are questions.

My topic is reluctant readers, something I had to commit to very quickly because I was a last minute addition to the conference. I realized after I was committed that my audience, a whole lot of librarians, are probably much better experts on reluctant readers than I'll ever be. So I decided to give my talk from the perspective of a YA author, and show them the progression of my own writing style, one that went from being self consciously literary in Shadow Falls to a snappier, more commercial style in Vibes. I'm also looking at how my different publishers have marketed my books, because I think this contains an interesting lesson about how the outside of a book can either sell it, or, em, not.

I'm expecting the talk to go well, and I'm really looking forward to attending some of the other lectures at the conference. Overall, I'm expecting this to be a really fun experience.