Yesterday was fun. I showed Zach and Jimmy my drawing of them, which resembled The Scream and featured Zach screaming as Jimmy ate my potato chips.

“‘Jimmy ate potato chips and watched’,” Zach said. “That’s so accurate.”

We laughed and talked about the Readings for Writers session they missed. I went with four girls to the Iowa Review’s presentation at Prairie Lights. On the way there, we passed a car that read: “The greatest lie ever told is that vaccines are safe and effective”.

“That bothers me,” I said to Kristin.

“That car back there?” she asked.

“Yeah. I mean, do you know how many lives vaccines have saved? Just because you see it on Oprah doesn’t make it true.”

She laughed. We discussed healthcare.

“I wish I knew more about healthcare,” I said. “I’m a little fuzzy on the details, so I can’t really form a good opinion.”

“I like how you look at both sides of the argument before you pick one. Most people just pick a side and stick with it.”

“Thanks, but growing up where I did, I kind of had to.”

We talked until we reached Prairie Lights—a bookstore famous for its quantity of novels and home to a coffee shop that sells a mean cookie—where we looked at the books displayed throughout the store.

“I want to read that,” I said, pointing at The Anatomy of an Epidemic. “I heard it’s good. It’s about why kids are so screwed up these days. The author thinks it’s because of overdiagnosis and a lack of discipline.”

“Interesting.”

After the reading (which was decent), we headed home.

“So what do you write?” Skylar asked.

“Mostly fiction—short story and novel,” I said.

“I was just offered a book deal.”

“That’s exciting. From who?”

“Well, I don’t know if it’s an actual book deal. It’s from this Serbian publisher I’ve never heard of.”

“If you’re not sure, don’t take it. Did you check out that Inkpop thing I told you about? They’re pretty legit.”

Inkpop is a website where people submit young-adult targeted books. Every month, the five most popular manuscripts are reviewed by Harper Collins editors.

“Yeah, I think I might do that.”

“Cool.”

We entered the dorms and split.

I slept like a rock.

It was a good night.

(On another note, I think I’ll read Delivering Happiness when I have time. I’ve been a little busy, but I always make time for a good book.)