Announcing...

A while ago, I hinted that I hoped to have some good news to share soon. And then a few posts ago, I mentioned that my trip to New York City for the SCBWI Winter Conference had even more awesome than I was able to include in the post. There's no way you could have known, but those things were connected.

Hee-hee. I know. I'm such a tease.

ANYWAY. You probably want to know what my news is, right?

I bet you do.

Yup.

Have I drawn this out long enough?

How about now?

Okay, NOW. I have.

Okay, already!

I wanted to wait until all the paperwork was finalized, buuuuut, now that the contract has been signed, I am THRILLED to announce that…

I am now represented by the AMAZING Laura Biagi, of Jean V. Naggar Literary Agency!

I queried Laura last September and she requested my full in November. After she read my manuscript, we made an appointment to chat in New York on the day that I arrived for the conference. Chatting with her was fantastic - I could see that she had really thought about my manuscript, and I could also see that she really "got it". She is smart and on-the ball, she's a great communicator, she gets and loves what I'm working on, and I am so, so excited to have her by my side as we plan my career together!

So. Laura Biagi, Agent Awesome. MY AGENT. I can't believe I get to type that.

What is this crazy life?

To celebrate, I'm giving away a free query critique. Comment with your email address for one entry, share (and link to your shares in the comments) for more entries. The winner will be randomly drawn at midnight on Friday, March 13th/Saturday, March 14th.

And as always: you guys have been with me since my earliest days, and your support has kept me going through both light and dark moments. I love and appreciate every last one of you. Thanks for stopping by!

FREE WRITERS' CONFERENCE!

That's such an overused ploy, isn't it? Dangling a carrot like that just to get your attention? So mean and shallow of me.

But it's TRUE!

WriteOnCon is a free, online childrens' writers' conference from August 10-12, 2010. It's scheduled to take place outside normal working hours, so it's even do-able for the nine-to-fivers among us, and it boasts an agent and editor line-up that has me breaking out in cold sweats of excitement and fear. Most boards are closed until the conference opens, but there is a critique board that is absolutely humming for those of us who want to polish up our work a bit ahead of time.

Did I mention that it's free?

So go register, already!

Mea Culpa, and CONTEST!

Did I say "this weekend" in my last post? I meant "next weekend", and I apologise to any blog readers who might have tuned in only to find the same old tired post sitting there. "This weekend" (meaning this past weekend) got a little busy, what with shoveling coal raking gravel and laying sod and moving mulch, and until I figure out how to write posts ahead of time and have them appear later, I guess I just shouldn't promise things like that. I'm sorry. I will absolutely have a post on Knowing the Market for Writers up next.

In the meantime, though: literary agent Nathan Bransford is having a contest! And if you're not daunted by the 300-plus entries he's already received, you should go and enter it right now.

Thanks for stopping by.

Thank You, Mr. Agent

I was thrilled to receive a rejection letter from an agent in the mail yesterday. Thrilled? I can hear you thinking, she is definitely off her rocker. But no, I have not lost all of my marbles just yet. While I am obviously disappointed not to have his representation, this is indeed good news, for a couple of reasons.

First, it was an actual letter, not the one-line form rejections I have gotten in the past. He thanked me for expressing interest in his agency and for giving him the chance to review my work, made specific reference to something that he had liked about my manuscript (showing that he had indeed read it - I know all agents assure us that they read everything, but with a one-line rejection it sure doesn't feel that way), gave specific reasons why my manuscript didn't appeal to him personally, and wished me the best of luck. He was respectful, concise, polite, and thoughtful, and he wrote me the best rejection letter I have ever gotten.

Second, now that I know that his agency isn't interested in my manuscript, I can consider moving on to submitting directly to publishers, which is probably what I should have done in the first place. Taking on someone with no publishing credits is always a gamble for agents, and although I am disappointed not to have an agent (yet!), I am not surprised. I know where I want to shop my story, and now I'm one step closer to doing it!

So, once again, thank you Mr. Agent. Thank you for taking the time to read my manuscript, and for responding so thoughtfully and professionally. Your letter is the first one to deserve a place on my bulletin board.

And thanks to the rest of you for stopping by.