Remember the Alamo. Dude.

I sure had a lot of fun in San Antonio. The schools were great, and the people at Barnes and Noble treated me awesomely. A big thanks to them. And to all the librarians, teachers, principals, etc. It was a great three days.

I was even able to see some people I hadn't seen in a long time. That picture is me with Sami, Megan, and Matt Christian, evil spawn of Lewis and Emily (kidding!). These guys are like family, and we had a blast checking out the Alamo and walking the Riverwalk. The weather was perfect.

I also had dinner with my nephew, Tyler, who I had not seen in NINE YEARS. That is such an awful thing, and now he's off to Hawaii (military man). It was so cool to see him, and to see what a great person he's grown up to be. Tyler, love ya bro.

Saturday was another great day. I was lucky to be one of the authors at the first annual Provo Children's Book Festival. It was awesome! I did a reading, served on a panel, and signed lots of books, posters, and autograph pamphlet thingies they gave to all the kids. They even served us dee-lish food! A huge thanks to Gene and everyone at the Provo Library.

My favorite moment of the night - Shannon Hale leans over and tells me, "Sorry, gotta go. I'm having dinner with Stephenie Meyer. Heard of her?"

Stephenie was in Utah Saturday for a big launch event for THE HOST, and she and Shannon are friends. I'm sure no amount of begging on my part would've allowed me to go as well, but I did force Shannon to make a promise: tell Stephenie that James Dashner said hi. I bet she swooned upon hearing it.

Oh, and Shannon, when I have dinner with Stephen King someday, I'll think of you.

On top of all this, I've had quite the experience the last few days working with a certain someone to improve the proposal for THE MAZE RUNNER before it goes out to publishers. Who is this mystery person, you ask? I'll tell you in my next post. I'll give you a hint: he's a stud.

I also found out I'll be doing lots of fun things at BEA (Book Expo America) in 2 weeks in LA. I can't wait, seriously. I'll really try to give detailed reports of how that goes.

Check back soon!

Lyrics of the Day:

And there is nothing I can do

When I realize with fright

That the spiderman is having me for dinner tonight.

- The Cure

Not sure what that song's about, but this has to be the creepiest line from a song I've ever heard. Which, of course, is why I love it.