Randomly...

• Tour: Tomorrow is the last date of the Market Books Tour for 2006. I'll be appearing at the Joseph-Beth Lexington, KY store along with Novel & Short Story Writer's Market Editor Lauren Mosko. Our event begins at 4 p.m. Please come see us!
• News: Scholastic reported on their first quarter sales, and--surprise, surprise--their numbers are down considerably from this time last years when Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was released. Their reported Q1 sales were $275 million, dropping $112 million in the children's division. Not so bad considering the drop in HP sales was $180 million.
• First Books: I've finally gotten an chance to contact all of the debut authors who I did not choose for the 2008 CWIM First Books feature. Sorry it took so long--the tour, you know. If you did not hear from me, I apologize--a few emails may have slipped through the cracks. Another big congratulations to all of you on your debut books. It was truly a tough decision to weed out only five authors from such a great group of possibilities. I'm in the midst of reading the books by the authors who will be included in the feature, and I'm having great fun doing it!
• Personal: I just bought a bag that's the exact same color as the 2007 edition of CWIM. "The only thing that separates us from the animals is our ability to accessorize."
• Observation: I'm fairly certain the Teletubbies lifted some choreography from Footloose. Especially Dipsy--that Tubbie has some moves.