Do you read online reviews / buzz about your own books?
Honestly? No. Since announcing my intentions to quit last August, I have not googled myself or my books, and I do not get google alerts. I do not read reviews on Amazon or other book sites. If someone emails me or comments on my blog with a link to anything concerning my books, I almost never follow the link. It’s not that I don’t appreciate that people are writing reviews and spreading buzz — I’m hugely grateful, because online dialog brings readers to my books. And I think it’s very nice of people to drop me a line and let me know. But I don’t involve myself. I’ve learned it’s better for my writing process, my sanity, and my happiness to avoid it. (Besides, I get a ton of feedback without looking for it — my friends and publishers are on the ball and keep me informed of what people are saying — so I generally have a sense of what’s going on out there without seeking it out myself.)

I do usually (though not always) read reviews if my editor or publicity department sends them to me. Those ones tend to be the ones in major review journals, and are hard to ignore. And, okay, I’ll admit that occasionally I stumble across a review in the blogosphere by accident, but it’s only when one of the few sites on my own reader runs a review of one of my books. (I have to say, it always gives me a slight heart attack when I open my reader and see one of my book covers in a post that I didn’t write!) These are the only exceptions.

What is your stance on fanfiction/slash, particularly of your worlds/characters?
*smile* I rarely read and never write fanfic, and I would certainly never want to read fanfic about my characters or worlds (talk about a link I wouldn’t follow!). But I quite like the concept, I’m glad people in the world are writing fanfic, and I don’t care what fanfiction writers do with my characters and worlds, as long as I don’t have to read it. Actually, I’ll go a step further — I think I’d find it flattering and fun to hear that my characters had entered the world of fanfic.

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Speaking of the blogs I read regularly, fyi, Rebecca Rabinowitz has some interesting posts recently on disability terminology, fatpol picture books, and, *ahem* topping and bottoming in YA lit. Check it out!