This week, I'm finishing line edits on GENIE WISHES. Here's the bird's eye view of the manuscript and me, flanked by my dogs Gizmo (left) and Lulu (right). They take this flanking work very seriously.

Last Friday afternoon, I put the manuscript aside and drove to see Natalie Standiford, who was at the Children's Bookstore in Baltimore (her hometown) signing her new middle-grade novel, THE SECRET TREE. Not surprisingly, she was just as delightful in person as she is on Twitter. I'm looking forward to reading the book and finding out what secrets said tree is holding.

The CityLit Kids year at Baltimore's Govans Elementary School ended today on a high (and sugary) note, with the fifth graders taking turns reading from their newly compiled anthology (shown above), then gathering for food and drink in the cafeteria. When the reading and the eating were done, the soon-to-be-graduates traded books and signed autographs for each other.

It was lovely working with this group--kids and instructors both. We instructors will be back next year, but the fifth graders will scatter to different middle schools around the city, where, as the anthology's title says, they'll Write On! We'll miss them.

P.S. At the party, I discovered the latest in commercial bakery innovations--the hottest thing since the photo cake. On top, it looked like a sheet cake, with a single, unbroken layer of frosting. But underneath? Cupcakes! Did you all know about this and not tell me? The split-level cake reminded me of what they used to say about certain haircuts: that they were business on top, party on the bottom.

The Lucky 13s--a group of writers with debut children's literature appearing in 2013--continues to grow. I think we're up to 60 members. Today was my turn to blog for the group, so I wrote about something that's been on my mind a lot recently: The virtues of reading your work out loud as part of the revision process, which I always do, sometimes in funny voices if I get bored. Here's the post.

The piece contains a photo of me reading at around age 9. I remember the moment--a rainy Sunday afternoon, a great book (TELL ME WHY), and my favorite kneesocks (which were probably 120 percent nylon, but I loved them anyway).

The fictional characters of GENIE WISHES are just that--fictional--with the exception of the dog, Lulu. In the book, Lulu is a lost Shih-Poo that Genie's family adopts. In real life, Lulu is a Shih-Poo who was returned to the breeder at five months of age, then adopted by my family. In both realms, she's adorable. Here she is with one of her renderings in the book manuscript, which is just about to wend its way back to my editor, the delightful Maggie Lehrman at Abrams.

More details to come. In the meantime, I'm boiling down a three-day adventure into a five-minute story and wondering just how violently my kneecaps will be shaking at the mic. Rehearsals are currently being held in my shower stall.

Here are some of the cool kids behind The Stoop:

Blogger Garvi Stein posted a lovely and detailed review of the 510 Readings that I was part of on Saturday night, March 17. Writers Ross Angelella (who brought the zombie content), Karen Lillis (who brought the cross-dressing), Justin Sirois (who contributed the war), and I (the cicadas) each had 10 minutes at the lectern. The air was springlike, the chairs packed, and the audience attentive. At the post-reading bar outing, St. Patrick was duly honored.

What a great night. Thank you to writer-organizers Michael Kimball and Jen Michalski, and thank you, Garvi! I appreciate her careful review of what I read from BROOD.

Here's a link to the reading I did from BROOD on Baltimore's NPR affiliate, WYPR, this weekend. The reading occupies the show's last five or six minutes, but I recommend listening to the entire episode of The Signal, which was as excellent as it always is. Thanks to Signal producer Aaron Henkin and 510 Readings organizer Jen Michalski for making this happen. My bucket list is lightened by one.