One YA SOLD! (And another one to boot)
Astounding exciting gratifying news. My lovely and amazing agent, Elana Roth at Firebrand Literary, has sold CANDOR to Regina Griffin at Egmont USA. It's a two-book deal and CANDOR will hopefully be on the debut Fall 2009 list.
CANDOR, a dystopian YA, will be my first pubbed novel. It is the third novel I wrote (and the other two shall stay forever dustbinned).
For those who like the gory details on the sale:
It all started with bad luck. I grabbed my toothbrush late one Thursday night--but it fell, and landed on my hand mirror. The glass shattered. Curse you, heavy Sonicare. I looked at the clock.
12:05 AM. It was officially Friday the 13th.
To satisfy both my Irish and Gypsy ancestors, I immediately walked counter-clockwise three times. Just for safety's sake, I threw in a tribute to my husband's grandmother Bea and muttered "poo poo poo bad luck" the whole time (her answer to any bad luck or bad thought). I know it sounds crazy. But a girl has to cover her bases. And give me some credit for not dashing downstairs to get salt.
Still, I was nervous. "That's it," I told my husband. "Seven years of bad luck. Or maybe more, since it's Friday the 13th."
That afternoon, Elana called. Egmont loves the book, she said. They want to publish it. She didn't have any other details--they would need a few more days to negotiate--but she wanted me to know. "You're going to be a published author," she said.
I spent the next week in frothy, delirious denial. Was it real? Had CANDOR really found a home? Today I got the go-ahead from Elana: I can tell the world.
So, world, here it is: CANDOR is on its way to being flesh and bone (or, paper and binding)! The next step will be receiving edits from Regina, and then I'll be aiming to get the final edited manuscript to her by September. Summer promises to be busy.
Maybe Friday the 13th is now my lucky day. My sister says it figures. I never do things the normal way.
At the risk of sounding all Sally Fields, I want to thank everyone who ever encouraged me, or read some/all of CANDOR. My journey to this point proves that critique groups, SCBWI conferences, family support, and good writing friends make a huge, huge difference. As does a fabulous agent! I wouldn't have gotten to this point without all of them.