where in the world is cindy pon?

hello lovely readers!

i apologize for dropping off these last few weeks.

it took me over two weeks to get over my gross

summer cold and in the mean time, i leapt right into

rough drafting my third novel.

so i'm officially in Troll Mode.

while rough drafting, i don't often feel very chatty,

tho you can always catch me (usually late at night)

on twitter. =)

it's very strange to be writing completely new characters

and stories. i know some writers (like dia reeves) who

doesn't enjoy writing the same characters because she

finds it too constricting. i, in turn, very much like writing

the same characters because there is a familiarity to them–

like an old friend.

but ai ling's story ended with Fury of the Phoenix so

i move on–to characters i don't know at all. to a story

i don't know enough of. the whole thing is rather maddening

and scary and hard. i'm trying to write at least 1k words

a day, so i plod faithfully on this summer. wish me luck!

in the meantime, i went to the first YA in Bloom event

run by Bridge to Books, a few saturdays back. and had

a blast! i sounded a little like a man due to the tail end

of my cold–but that didn't stop me from having fun! =)

*teen readers chloe and khy, the Original Teen Fan! =D

*i had the pleasure of meeting ashyln, teen reader and blogger!

*was able to hang out with marie lu which was

so much fun. her debut LEGEND is a rad read!

*authors and organizers of the event! (alethea, me, jessica brody,

andrew smith, lisa yee, nancy holder, katie alender, and aly beecher.)

lisa yee does a wonderful write up of the event here.

i always love hanging out with her and le peep!

diana, who was super fun to meet, recaps here.

and ashlyn also shares her thoughts!

finally, malinda and i are very excited to launch

our next big DiYA endeavor–a summer reading challenge.

librarians are welcome to create summer reading programs

focused and inspired by diverse middle grade and YA novels

for a chance to win over 50 books for her/his library.

and book bloggers are encouraged to read diverse novels

throughout the summer and write an (at least 500 word)

essay on her/his experience. the winning blogger with the

best essay will win over 50 books all for him/herself!

it's an amazing list of books to be won–check it out here.

and all the details here!

challenge closes on september 1, y'all! so get on it!

until next time…