As a book enthusiast/ classics geek/ erstwhile librarian/ general Sarah Dessen appreciator / writer-mama, I’ve been stopping by for occasional visits to your blog for years. Always I’m encouraged by your positive attitude, your attention to and genuine affection for your readers, and the huge joy you take in your work.

Your books were some of the first to make me think my own writer’s voice might be most at home within the realm of YA fiction; I feel that in some part I have you to thank for this fantastic lark:
http://www.serendipitylit.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=79&Itemid=129

As any writer knows, the actual writing is the lifeline to joy, but I do allow myself forays into daydream…if my book someday finds its way into print? Awesome. The proverbial icing on the cake. If I someday find myself in the midst of the YA writers who have made the ride worthwhile? Even awesomer! I could get into a basketball pool with Sarah Dessen and Laurie Halse Anderson and we could all geek out come March Madness time!

So thank you, Sarah Dessen, for your good work, your good humor, and your good faith in basketball. And please be prepared for my Kentucky Wildcats to mop up the floor with your Tar Heels on December 3

A grateful fellow writer, fellow Sarah, and fellow basketball fan