It's been a busy 24 hours in New Orleans, beginning with an excellent panel event last night,...

It's been a busy 24 hours in New Orleans, beginning with an excellent panel event last night, in which three other writers and I discussed the challenges and joys of making series. It was amazing how rarely any of our series were planned at the beginning - usually the concept evolved with time. Bart, for instance, began just as an idea - it was only after about 60 pages or so that it became obvious the story was too big for one book.

This morning I went to a Hyperion breakfast, where authors such as Rick Riordan and Mo Willems read extracts from their forthcoming titles. Then I wandered the ALA conference floor, buying too many books before going for a quick ferry ride across the Mississippi, just so I could say I'd crossed it. Into the French Quarter for dinner this evening, down lantern-lit streets laced with urgent, pleasure-seeking crowds.