Aside from not getting much reading or any writing done, yesterday was terrific.

First, my editor paid me a great big compliment as we resolved a micro-issue related to the publication date of The Day-Glo Brothers. By the way, we should be about a year away from having advance copies.

Then I heard from my agent that my Pasta proposal — two chapters and descriptions of additional subjects ripe for coverage in the subsequent chapters — is ready to send off to the (very patient) editor who expressed an interest back in January. Plus, I got some encouraging and constructive feedback on SVT that — along with what I got from Don and Julie last weekend — I’ll put to use when I start revising next week.

And then there was the party, a Cynthia and Greg Leitich Smith-hosted affair in honor of the guests in town for today’s SCBWI conference. If I drop any more names, I’ll be spending the entire morning adding links to their sites and blogs. But regardless of who was there, I was impressed yet again by the warmth and congeniality and fun (and noise) generated by a house full of people who love children’s literature.

I learned of new contracts, new books, and a nearly completed trilogy. I got to pass along a message from an out-of-town author to the visiting editor, and I took a message from the visiting writing coach to pass along to an out-of-town blogger. There was enthusiastic talk of the Cybils (and not just by me), nervous talk of the next day’s presentations, and grin-and-bear-it talk of ongoing revisions. And lots of curiosity about how The Day-Glo Brothers is coming along.

Best of all, I found in a couple of New Yorkers an appreciative audience for the title of the country song I’m writing. But since it was too loud to sing in there, I’ll share the chorus (the only part of the song that actually exists so far) with you. Feel free to imagine my wife rolling her eyes as I sing:

I’ll ask you one more time
And I swear, it’s not a joke
Tell me honestly
Do these tears make my heart look broke?