I'm applying to be the 2011 Writer-in-Residence for the Edmonton Public Library. You need a few letters of reference so one person I asked is my buddy and fantastic playwright Marty Chan. He's also a great YA novelist. Everyone in Edmonton knows Marty. But when I asked him for the reference and what it was for, he said, "I was going to ask you the same thing." So we are referring each other for the position where are competing for. That in itself tells a lot about Edmonton's community of writers.