I've just gotten back from the American Library Association annual conference in Anaheim, California. Ten thoughts on the topic:

1. Having grown up in Orlando, I obviously hate Disney World and Disneyland and the Disney Channel (there were actually seven different Disney channels in my hotel room). But I found myself enjoying a lot of things about Anaheim unironically, including A. its walkability, and B. the fact that every time people leave the hotel, a teenage employee says, "Have a magical day!"

I mean, obviously, it sucks to be that teenager. But you should have seen the kids' eyes light up.

2. Librarians can get pretty rowdy.

3. People claim to like Paper Towns. But, I mean, are they going to claim otherwise in front of me?

4. I did this thing where I ate pizza with Nancy Werlin, Jay Asher, Steve Kluger, and a few dozen teenagers. And then after the pizza we talked about books. It made me wish that life involved more pizza and talking about books, and less--you know--sitting in the basement alone trying to write them.

5. I met Steven Chbosky, the author of Perks of Being a Wallflower, who was very kind and gracious while I fangirled him.

6. Speaking of my fangirling, I also saw Laurie Halse Anderson, who said nice things about PT, which she then repeated on her blog.

7. I also had the opportunities to sign some copies of the forthcoming holiday anthology Let It Snow with the magnificent Lauren Myracle (the book contains long stories written by Maureen Johnson, Lauren, and me). There are as yet no copies signed by all three of us, but hopefully this will change soon.

8. It is, in fact, a testament to how great Lauren Myracle is that I was able to thoroughly enjoy going to Disneyland, even though I hate Disneyland, because she and her made-of-awesome son were there, and also my editor, Julie, and our editor friend Tara.

9. I received the first in-print review of Paper Towns, which appeared in Booklist magazine. The review ends: "Yet, if anything, the thematic stakes are higher here [than in Looking for Alaska], as Green ponders the interconnectedness of imagination and perception, of mirrors and windows, of illusion and reality. That he brings it off is testimony to the fact that he is not only clever and wonderfully witty but also deeply thoughtful and insightful. In addition, he's a superb stylist, with a voice perfectly matched to his amusing, illuminating material."

10. Some nice and rather unexpected things happened for Paper Towns that I can't entirely get into.