I love summer. I love that school got out this week. I love that the alarm clocks all can be set an hour later when my biological clock usually is timed to go off anyway. I love that I have more time to spend with my boys than usual. I love that they cannot use homework as an excuse for not cleaning their rooms.

I am writing this newsletter before I fly to Dallas for a very quick trip to give a speech at a Mystery Writers of America's Southwest Chapter event. I am looking forward to the flight as I have a few books and manuscripts that I am anxious to read, as well as a lineup queued on my iPod and this deep purple wrap I want to get some knitting done on. I have been running so much recently that I am looking forward to a few hours of uninterrupted time on the plane. When I get really busy I fantasize about flying to Australia and back, just for a chunk of time to call my own with no emails that I feel an urgent need to respond to, ringing phones, meetings or questions. Never mind the frequent flyer miles...I would treasure the time alone!

Last weekend's Book Expo America (BEA) trade show was a booklover's dream as I wandered the aisles perusing titles, listened to authors and editors, and made endless notes on books we want to share with you in the upcoming months. Our staffers and I split up so we could cover more ground, and we convened this week to compare notes and start planning what we think will be a very exciting fall.

Today kicks off the Book Expo America (BEA) trade show in New York, which is a whirlwind event where publishers present their fall titles and we all are on what seems like an endless merry-go-round of meeting authors, hearing about new books and celebrating at parties and other soirees. The schedule reminds me of finals week at college. By Sunday there will not be enough caffeine around to keep even "Energizer Bunny" me going, but we will have a pretty good picture of what's going to be published for fall.