I am printing out the final draft of Asha Means Hope even as I blog. On Monday, I will mail it to Francoise Bui, my editor at Random House. I'm waiting now for word from my agent about Sparrow's first book, and if she gives me the green light, I'll print that out on Monday, too, and send that manuscript to Margaret Woollatt, my editor at Dutton. It feels like the end of final exam week, except I don't have the stamina I had when I was nineteen. I'll finish my last school visit of the year on Monday, at Washington Irving Middle School in Boston, sponsored by the Foundation of Children's Books, mail off the manuscripts, and then curl up under the afghan my mother crocheted and drool for a while.