1. I headed up to the office this morning despite being tired and feeling puny to boot. One of the reasons for the pep talk it took me to shower, dress, and put on the work face was that there was a luncheon today for the three National Book Award finalists on our campus as part of the NBA on Campus Program. I finally had the chance to meet finalist Noelle Stevenson, author and illustrator of the GN Nimona, one of this year's finalists for Young People's Literature. We had a lovely time talking about her work and the time she spent with students at a local hight= school. Over lunch, some folks came to speak to Noelle. I was sort of shocked to see that those who elected to sit and chat were not familiar with her work, but then I know that not everyone reads YA as much as I do.

Anyway, here I am with Noelle:



2. Karin Perry and I put the finishing touches on an article for ENGLISH IN TEXAS tonight. Since it was a Google doc, we could both be working on it at the same time. It was sort of fun to watch what she was doing as I was working and vice versa. Now, fingers crossed that the editors find it worthy of publication.

3. I finished putting last touches on summer syllabi and posted the reading lists for children's and YA literature courses. Now I just need to build out the LiveBinders for the courses so students can get started when they have the chance. Again, having access to the technology that makes all this possible sometimes stuns me.

So, despite feeling less than motivated to get much done today, I accomplished ore than I had anticipated. Lots of work ahead for the weekend including another project I am working on with Karin Perry. It is supposed to be rainy, so that will help me immensely, I hope.

TGIF, everyone.