Whew! And more chances to win Personal Demons...

Last week nearly ate me alive. But don't throw me on that cart, cuz "I'm not dead yet!" (Sticking with my Monty Python theme from last week.)

I got my ARCs. (I did all kinds of ARC art. :p) I'm mailing them today and tomorrow, for those of you waiting! =)

And I got my cover.

And my editorial letter from my seriously cool editor on Original Sin. (but you really don't want to see that)

I also had my amazing crit partner, Andrea's, Nightshade #3 (Bloodrose) to critique. I finished it Saturday and, it's fabulous!

I got my marching orders from my designer for content on my new website (coming soon at http://www.lisadwrites.com/).

And I ran some awesome contests. Thanks to the hordes of you who entered my Twitter contest. If you missed it, the task was to look at the cover and tell me, in 140 characters or less, who Frannie should be with and why. Here are some of my favorite entries.

@thmafi: Frannie should pick @DanKrokos because otherwise he'll go after Gabe & Luc before she does. #PersonalDemons (Dan has already laid claim to Luc, actually :p)

@AminaBlack: don't be cruel she doesn't have to choose. She could have both and I know that I'm not the only one thinking it. #PersonalDemons

@angelgirl122193: Frannie should choose neither of them, become a nun, and let me have a love triangle of my own w/ luc and gabe =) #PersonalDemons

@ettrenas: LUC! Because any guy that makes you think twice about choosing hell over heaven is a total winner ;) #PersonalDemons

And my very favoritest entry:
@MireyahWolfe: Frannie should be with Luc, because...let's face it. With those eyes, she'll never lose him when the lights go out. #PersonalDemons

Dudes! I was ROFL!

But, the winner, as chosen by the randomizer was @sophisti_katied! *throws virtual confetti*

It was really fun! I hope to do another Twitter contest closer to release =)

If you didn't win, but you still want an ARC, visit my July Debut Contest and enter! You can also enter to win a finished copy of Personal Demons or five other amazing fall releases in A Good Addiction's Fall Release Six Title Contest. So go enter!! Yay!

So, even though I feel like I've been ravaged by a killer rabbit (you really have to see The Holy Grail) I have my holy hand grenade ready and I'll be back for more tomorrow with my Personal Demons Sneak Peek #5! :D

I'm a fraud--maybe

Thanks for all your input on choosing a project. The throwing them into a window fan suggestion was entertaining. Thanks GhostFolk (aka: Randy ) ;p

In the end, I decided to seek professional advice from my truly fabulous agent, who I trust implicitly.

While I pondered my problem (and your creative solutions) over the weekend, it occurred to me what the real source of all my angst was. Most of you who write can probably relate to this.

I wrote a book. I sent it to agents. Some really amazing agents wanted to represent THAT book. And my truly fabulous agent sold THAT book to my seriously cool editor, who loved THAT book.

THAT book.-->

I kind of felt like the all the stars had aligned and lightning struck, and my PowerBall numbers hit, and pigs flew, all at the same time with THAT book. It was like winning the lottery times ten. Like I got soooo super lucky and wrote something decent that got in front of the right people at the right time.

THAT book.

But the problem was, THAT book sold in a three-book deal. So I was supposed to be able to do THAT again. But I really wasn’t sure how I did it the first time. What was I going to do when everyone figured out how lucky I got with THAT book and that I, in fact, had no writing talent?

When I handed Original Sin (Personal Demons, book 2) off to my truly fabulous agent earlier this year, I was totally stressing, because she was going to know that I was a total fraud. And I was sure she was going to ask me who really wrote Personal Demons. (She was nice enough not to ask, but I’m sure she’s still wondering.) She helped me clean up Original Sin before I sent it off to my seriously cool editor last week, who DIDN’T HATE IT! *throws virtual confetti* I know she’s going to have a lengthy editorial letter for me, and I welcome it. She’s amazing at helping me make my book into the one I thought I wrote.

And, I’m starting to think that maybe I’m not a total fraud. Maybe…

But choosing a new project is hard for all those same reasons. I have three really cool stories that are dying to be told. That’s, like, nine characters in my head all talking at the same time (and that doesn’t even count Frannie, Luc and Gabe who are all still in there too). But I’m a little worried that, no matter what I write, if I can’t figure out how to make lightning hit and pigs fly again, it won’t matter. It’s a little bit nerve wracking.

Under Pressure...

Thought I'd start us off with a little music. A blast from my childhood:


That woman screaming...? Yeah, that was me...

The amazingly talented, and overall fabulous Heidi R. Kling is sponsoring Author Appreciation Week,so over the course of the week, I'll be sharing some thoughts on authors who have influenced me in one way or another. But today's post is about some of the challenges that authors face on the road to publication, such as, working under deadlines. Or in other words, all about me! O.O

I’ve got a whole lot of Personal Demons related stuff going on right now. Personal Demons copyedits showed up on Friday, and they're due back this week. I was looking forward to them, but when I saw all the RED, they scared the snot out of me—until I realized most of the red marks are for the typesetter and have nothing to do with me or my screw-ups. Whew!!

I’m also working through revisions of Original Sin (PD #2) which is very exciting. It’s seriously edgy and dark, so I was a little nervous about it, but my readers seemed to like it, so…maybe it’s okay. O_o

But then I started worrying a little about book 3, (never fear, book 3 is not the actual title O_O) because, what I found writing Original Sin is that I ended up going back and changing a few things in Personal Demons for tie-in. Original Sin is due to my editor by June 1st, so I’d like to have the first draft of book 3 done before then. That way, if something in Original Sin needs to change, I’ll still have time to do it.

See, the deal is, book 3 is the first thing I’ve ever written under contract. I’m finding it to be an interesting experience. I wrote Original Sin in November to pass the time while we were on submission with Personal Demons. But now, with deadlines for Original Sin looming, the pressure is a little different. When I wrote Personal Demons, I didn’t even have an agent, and wasn’t sure anyone but me would ever read it. With Original Sin, I knew I might be wasting my time, because if Personal Demons didn’t sell, there’d be no point in a sequel. So again, there was the likelihood that no one but me would ever read it. But now I KNOW someone other than me is going to read book 3. My seriously cool editor. And she’s going to expect it not to suck to be really good. *bites nails*

So it was a little nerve-wracking that the voices in my head had stopped and I pretty much had no idea where book 3 was going. I was lost in the literary desert with no plot. And with no voices and a silent Muse, (Orlando was nervous, I think. I know he never really looks nervous, but he’s only human.) I was feeling a little screwed.

The good news is that Orlando's back. *grins*

You can tell, just from the look on his face, that he's serious about getting some work done. So that means, when I can rip my eyes away from him, I can write, cuz Frannie, Luc and Gabe are starting to have conversations in my head again. The bad news is that they’re keeping me awake at night, but that’s okay. And the really good news it that they gave me the entire plot arc for book 3 last week, so right now, they’re my BFFs. In which case, they can keep me up all they want. Sleep is over rated anyway.

So, don't feel bad about thinking to yourself, she's nuts. I know that already and I won't take offense. I'd love for all you sane people to tell me about your WIP. How does the process work for you?

PERSONAL DEMONS release date!

I've been waiting.

It's something that you have to get used to in publishing. The thing about that is, patience is a virtue I seem to be seriously lacking. I'm an instant gratification sort of person. I WANT STUFF NOW! When I think about why waiting is so tough, it really boils down to control and keeping busy. When I hand my project off to someone else, I have no control, and it's maddening. So maddening, in fact, that I can't focus enough to work productively on other projects and I end up obsessing and pulling my hair out.

But those of you in the publishing mill know that things tend to move slowly. You write your book and submit to agents. Then wait.

An agent takes you on and submits your book to publishers. And you wait.

A publisher buys your book. And you wait.

You wait for your editorial letter. (Though, my seriously cool editor was rocket fast with mine.)

You wait for your contract. (Just got mine yesterday. Here's me signing! Yay!!)

You wait for your cover art. *drums fingers and blows out a sigh*

Your copy edits. *folds arms across chest and taps toe*

Your pub date. *clenches teeth and wonders what the…*

What…? I have a pub date? REALLY!!!

So, I'm waiting for one less thing now. =) The official (but may possibly change) release date for Personal Demons is SEPTEMBER 14, 2010!!! Yay!

I was going to put a ticker on my blog but Sprout, who does all the cool publishing tickers, just went out of business =( Trying to figure out Widgetbox. Ticker coming soon!

Still, it's very exciting, and each step makes it feel a little more real. But I'm still dying to see what they come up with for a cover. *bites nails*

So, I'm passing the time working on Original Sin. My crit partner and agent have it and they're always spot-on with their feedback, so I can't wait to see what they say. My contract for Original Sin (that I just signed! *throws confetti*) says the delivery date is June 1, so that gives me some time to smooth out the rough spots.

What are you waiting for? Something special? Like, maybe my March Debut Contest? Some amazing YA debuts this month! Don't miss your chance to win one!

Now, back to our regularly scheduled broadcast...

Revisions: check. Line edits: check. Food: Um...I knew I was forgetting something. But who needs to eat, right? Or sleep, for that matter. Course there’s the day job, which I’ve pretty much remembered to go to…most of the time.

That’s my life. Busy but good. The really great news is that line edits are done and will be emailed to my seriously cool editor tomorrow. Then Personal Demons is off to production. Yay! There may actually be a book on the shelves at the end of all of this. Whew…

In other fun news, Personal Demons had a birthday. I realized a few days ago that last Tuesday, (2/2) while I was on an airplane on my way to meet my totally fabulous agent and seriously cool editor, Personal Demons turned one. 2/2/09 was the day I met Luc and Frannie and wrote the first chapter. =) So Happy birthday!!

Other stuff:
Don’t forget that my January debut contest closes at noon on 2/15 (that’s Monday, BTW) and my February debut contest runs through noon on 2/26, so if you haven’t entered for a chance to win an awesome 2010 YA or MG debut, do it now!

You’re still reading? I said NOW! Go enter!! You did already? Okay…good.

Also, a while back (Seriously, it was a month ago. I'm pathetic.) I was tagged by my awesome crit partner Andrea Cremer. Now that I’ve come up for air, I’m ready to tackle a few question.

1) What's the last thing you wrote? What's the first thing you wrote that you still have?
Last thing I wrote was Original Sin, the sequel to Personal Demons.

The first thing I ever wrote, which I still have, is a YA thriller I wrote for my daughter’s birthday. I wrote that last fall. (2009)

2) Write poetry? Never.

3) Angsty poetry? Um…no.

4) Favorite genre of writing?
YA, definitely. Urban fantasy and contemporary.

5) Most annoying character you've ever created?
There are a few. If I had to pick one, I’d say Frannie’s best friend Taylor from my Personal Demons series.

6) Best plot you've ever created?
Honestly, the plot for the book I wrote for my daughter is pretty kick-ass. I put a lot of research into it and it took me to some pretty amazing places.

Course, the plot for Personal Demons is pretty kick-ass too…

7) Coolest plot twist you've ever created?
Spoiler, sorry. (Hint: It’s in Personal Demons)

8) How often do you get writer's block?
Never.

9) Write fan fiction?
Never.

10) Do you type or write by hand?
Write by hand? How do you do that?

11) Do you save everything you write?
Absolutely.

12) Do you ever go back to an idea after you've abandoned it?
I haven’t really abandoned anything yet. I have some WIPs hovering in the wings, and they may be feeling a bit abandoned at the moment… Maybe I should check if they’re hungry or need a diaper.

13) What's your favorite thing you've ever written?
I’ve written three books (four if you count the Personal Demons sequel) and I love them all. It's like asking me who is my favorite child. They're all so different, but if you’re going to make me play favorites, I’d have to say Personal Demons.

14) What's everyone else's favorite story you've written?
No one but my daughter and my agent has read anything but Personal Demons. My daughter still says she like the one I wrote for her best.

15) Ever written romance or angsty teen drama?
Um…yeah.

16) What's your favorite setting for your characters?
Anywhere their parents aren’t. They can let loose. All my books have parents—none of this absentee stuff. But I like for my teen characters to be able to interact without adults coming down on them.

17) How many writing projects are you working on right now?
I’m pretty immersed in Original Sin and book 3 at the moment.

18) Have you ever won an award for your writing?
Personal Demons won or placed in six writing completions this summer.

19) What are your five favorite words?
If you asked my editor, she’d say, and, so, something, ugh and m dash. (I know that last one isn't a word, but I still like them too much.)

20) What character have you created that is most like yourself?
Anna, from my first book.

21) Where do you get your ideas for your characters?
Where don’t I get my ideas for characters would be an easier question to answer.

22) Do you ever write based on your dreams?
I don’t think so. My characters have conversations in my head all night long, but I’m usually wide awake and staring at the ceiling, so that doesn’t count.

23) Do you favor happy endings?
Sometimes yes, sometimes no. Make of that what you will...

24) Are you concerned with spelling and grammar as you write?
All I have to say about that is, thank god for spellcheck and editors who know what they’re doing.

25) Does music help you write?
Couldn’t write without it.

26) Quote something you've written. Whatever pops in your head.
Taylor to Frannie in Personal Demons: “Who made you dominatrix of the lunch table?”

And, tag, Kristin Miller. You're it!

Live, from New York...

Have I mentioned lately that the uber-fabulous Suzie Townsend rocks? Well, she does. And so does the uber-cool Melissa Frain. I spent yesterday in the city that never sleeps with my agent and editor. They both supplied me with reading material (YAY! BOOKS!) and Melissa brought me up to speed on all things Tor. I got to meet all the amazing people there and at FinePrint Literary Management and, yes, they are as awesome as they seem.

I’ll never forget the rush of sending requested manuscripts out to agents when I was agent shopping. I remember thinking that, even if no one wanted to represent it and it never sold, at least someone else will have met the characters that I love so much. I have to say, it was a little wild talking to a whole bunch of people who had read my book. And in one of those really fun “small world” experiences, it turned out that the lovely Patty Garcia, Director of Publicity at Tor, has a brother-in-law who grew up in the same tiny town in California that I currently live in. Go figure.

I knew it was going to be a great visit when New York City treated me to a flurry on Tuesday night while I was wandering and people watching. It snowed all night and left a dusting of white in the morning. Just enough so that I got my snow experience without being nasty. (though there’s supposed to be a storm tomorrow night, so “nasty” may still be in my New York experience)

And I’m headed to the Mid-Manhattan Library (the largest of the NY public libraries) tonight for a presentation called: "Spotlight: A Close-Up Look at the Artistry and Meaning of Stephenie Meyer's 'Twilight' Novels," with John Granger. The description of this event is as follows:

"Why do millions of readers love these Young Adult Vampire Romances?" By looking at the "Twilight" novels' surface artistry, their implicit morality, their archetypal allegory -- a kind of Mormon Pilgrim's Progress -- as well as their hermetic meaning " the question is answered. There's a lot more here than meets the eye; this don't-miss-it event is both for Twi-Hards and for serious readers wanting to learn how to read popular literature with appreciation.

I couldn’t miss it! I wonder if Stephenie Meyers knows all that stuff is in her books. =)

I’m here until Sunday, so I’m sure I’ll find even more fun things to do. I’ll fill you in as they happen!

February 2010 debut book give-away! And New York City!!!

Yay!! It's the first of February! You've been waiting patiently and, finally, here it is, my February debut give-away!!!

A reminder of the contest and the rules:

Each month I’ll post my top four debuts of that month. (on or around the first) All you have to do to enter is comment on that post before noon pacific time on the last Friday of the month. One winner will be chosen each month using the randomizer and I’ll post the winner on the last Friday of the month. The winner will then be allowed to choose one title off my picks list OR a signed ARC or copy of PERSONAL DEMONS (when I get them)! Yay!

In addition to commenting (for which you get one point) you can earn extra points each month as follows:

Old follower: +3 points
New follower: +2 points
Link to my contest post on your blog or twitter: +1 points
Dedicated post with link to my contest on your webpage/blog: +3 points
Add me to your blogroll: +2 points

Also on your entry, please remember to tell me how to find you (email address).

And remember, there will be no rollover points. Points start new every month.

My February debut picks are as follows:

The Naughty List by Suzanne Young
The Dark Days of Hamburger Halpin by Josh Berk
Dirty Little Secrets by Cynthia Jaynes Omololu
A Match Made in High School by Kristin Walker

So to enter, all you have to do is comment below before noon on Friday 26th! Good luck!

I'm leavin' on a jet plane before the crack of dawn tomorrow. NYC here I come!!! I'm looking so forward to "meeting" my truly fabulous agent and my seriously cool editor!!! I also have to say that I'm extremely proud to be affiliated with the publishing house that stood up to Amazon. I'm gonna stop by John Sargent's office and give him a high-five. Cuz he's just sitting around waiting for his authors to, you know, come hang out with him. =)

Toto, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore!

So WOW! The whirlwind continues. Book deal, Christmas, New Year, my birthday--but now it’s become a cyclone. I got an email from my seriously cool editor, Melissa, today. She’s planning a September release for Personal Demons. Which, in her words, “means great things about the excitement in-house, but it also means that you and I have some hectic times ahead of us.”

This is very exciting and a little scary. They said “Fall 2010” when they bid at auction and I was thinking December—maybe… I never dreamed SEPTEMBER. I’m now very thankful that I have the first draft of Original Sin (book 2) done, because I’m kind of off to the races, it seems. Release of book 2 is scheduled for July 2011 and book three May 2012.

I’ve actually not come back to the real world yet. I’m being a total slouch and am still on a celebratory vacation (since 12/21, the day of the auction). I have a feeling I might come crashing back to reality when I get home.

But it’s been a wild ride. I’m holding on with both hands and laughing my a$$ off. (Part of my vacation has been riding real roller coasters. o_O)

How’s your 2010 so far? Any good holiday stories? New Years Eve parties? Lampshades?

Ode to 2009

All I can say about 2009 is WOW! Especially when you consider my New Year’s Revelation. (I don’t do resolutions. I don’t have the self-discipline to follow through.)

2009 started with a partial manuscript request from the first agent I ever queried on my first real novel. That scared the snot out of me, in truth, cuz only after I got the request did I realized it wasn’t nearly good enough. It was the first valuable lesson of the year and of my writing career—a rookie mistake that a lot of authors make.

But it was a harbinger of things to come. If you read my last post, you know the whirlwind of events after that. Personal Demons was conceived in February and sold in December. If I had bothered to set goals for 2009, I would have exceeded them and then some.

It makes setting goals for 2010 tricky, cuz nothing can measure up to this year.

Except—well…there’s the thing about my book maybe being published in 2010. That’s pretty cool… So, I guess my goals should include something about not giving my fabulous agent and my awesome editor ulcers. Working with Melissa and Tor is going to be great—everything that goes into getting a debut in shape to go out into the world. I’m really looking forward to diving in.

There’s also the thing about a three-book deal. So it seems another goal should be getting book two, Original Sin, in shape. (First draft is done.) So, that’s going to be fun.

Plus, there’s all the networking. Getting to know readers and other writers out there in YA land. Yay!

Okay, so even though it’s a tall order, maybe 2010 will be better than 2009. We’ll see. I’m just thrilled to have proven my New Year’s Revelation wrong!

All the people who made my 2009 a resounding success deserve a shout out. You've heard from me privately, so here the public THANKS!!!

Nathan Bransford for all his invaluable info, without which I never would have found an agent in the first place.

Jen Laughran, whose encouraging feedback spurred me to make Personal Demons the best it could be.

Eric Elfman, Graeme Stone, Marty Allen and Stephanie Sneddon (my Big Sur group) who gave me the confidence to write this book with no apologies.

Andrea Cremer, my crit partner extraordinaire, who was the first of us to prove my New Year’s Revelation wrong when her debut, Nightshade, sold in August.

Stephanie Howard for keeping me on track.

Suzie Townsend, my truly fabulous agent, for believing in me and my work, and knowing just what my mss needed to be even better.

Melissa Frain, my seriously awesome editor, for having faith enough to take me on for three books.

And most of all, my family:
My husband, who kept us all from starving to death months ago.
My daughters, who have been my inspiration from the beginning.

And thanks to all of you who take the time to visit me here! I love hearing from you all! What are your goals for 2010, and what can I do to help?

Ho, ho, ho and a book deal for you!!!

I must have been EXTRA good this year, cuz Santa made a special trip today and gave me what I really wanted.

It was nearly impossible for me to bite my tongue during (Unofficial) Official Agent Appreciation Day because I wanted to shout from the rooftop exactly how amazing my agent, Suzie Townsend, was. But, alas, it wasn’t official yet, so I couldn’t. I’ve always known she’s a rock star, and now I have proof.

*drum roll*

I’m beyond thrilled to announce that Suzie has sold my young adult debut novel, Personal Demons, at auction to Tor/Macmillan in a three book deal.

My shiny new editor, Melissa, still loves me because she’s only known me for one day. Also—she’s never met Suzie in person, which has worked out for the best cuz, if she had, she undoubtedly would have noticed Suzie’s bald spots, which would have prompted the question “What happened?” to which Suzie would have had to cross her fingers and reply “Alopecia. Runs in my family,” or risk losing our book deal. (Suzie is lovely, really, and her hair will grow back, I think, once I become a less frustrating client.) ;)

But I digress.

So, I’m blessed that my book (actually my three books!) has found a home with an awesome editor. I’m so looking forward to the next months/years getting to know Melissa and working with her to make my books the best they can be. I can never properly express my gratitude for her belief in me and my work.

All right. For those inquiring minds that want to know, here’s my story. If you really don’t care, stop reading now because, though the timeline is relatively short, I’m a writer which means, by definition, the story is going to be long.

First, let me say, I’ve read a LOT of author blogs about their road to publication. Many of them talk about their lifelong aspiration to write—how they knew they were destined to be a writer at age 5 when they started scribbling captions in their coloring books or writing plays for their friends and family.

That was SOOOO not me.

Not only did I never even consider writing a book—I hated to read them. I devoured Tolkien’s The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings in 7th grade and read a hand full of Stephen King books in high school, but other than that I was able to fake my way through four years of high school English without ever reading a single book. I was well out of college with a Masters and a Doctorate (for which I rarely cracked a textbook) before I took any interest in reading at all.

So, along comes my daughter, who’s an avid reader. I was thrilled that she took an interest in reading. And, being the diligent parent I am, I felt it was my responsibility to know what she was reading. I started browsing her books and found that I really enjoyed a lot of the YA novels she was accumulating. Then, in some unexplainable stroke of insanity, (maybe some kind of aneurysm?) I decided last July (2008) to do something special for her 14th birthday. I sat down and wrote her a 120K word YA thriller that I finished in October, in time for her birthday. I thought I was done—but my Muse had other ideas. I’d caught the bug.

Orlando is my Muse, in case anyone cares. Here's him looking particularly Musey...

I started my second novel (a realistic contemporary YA) in October and queried in January. I’d done a lot of blog reading and got that the road to getting published was nearly impossible. My true belief was that I didn’t have a prayer. So I was shocked out of my socks when five agents requested manuscripts. I got a lot of positive feedback, but no offers. Still, I was one step closer, and realized I must know how to write a query if I was getting requests. So all I needed was a really great book.

On February 2nd, 2009 I was listening to Saving Abel (one of my favorite new bands) and reading a bio where they said they got their name from a biblical quote: “there was no saving Abel.” That got me thinking about Cain and Abel, and I was mulling over ideas for a book when a name popped into my head. I thought to myself, Lucifer Cain, what a fun name for a demon. That was the beginning of Luc and Personal Demons. Even though his name was inspired by Saving Abel, his theme—the song that totally shaped his character and the story from his perspective—is Savin’ Me by Nickelback. Frannie, whose story this really is, was inspired in the same way by the song You Found Me by The Fray.

I don’t have any logical way of explaining how I felt as I was working on Personal Demons except to say I knew this was going to be “the one.” I typed away like a crazy person, trying desperately to keep up with my Muse, and I just felt like I was “in the zone.” (The “typing like a crazy person” was a challenge, as I worked full time and my husband didn’t know I was writing until I signed with my agent in September.)

A few weeks later I went to the San Francisco Writers Conference, where I met some great people and heard about the Big Sur Writers Workshop. That workshop was in March. I had to send a writing sample to be critiqued right away, and all I had completed (that I was willing to show anyone) was the realistic contemporary YA manuscript that was out with agents, but I figured that ship had already sailed. So even though I was only eight thousand words into my first draft of Personal Demons, I decided to take a risk and send it.

The critique groups and agents there were awesome and I got some VERY encouraging feedback as well as a request for the full manuscript when it was finished, so I got serious and finished it. I sent 18 queries in June and July and got a lot of manuscript requests really quickly. (I'd share my query letter, but there are spoilers—things I thought necessary to capture agents' interest and show them my book was different than the multitude of YA paranormal books already out there.) But then everything seemed to stall. I tweaked the manuscript while I waited on agents, but didn’t want to mess with it too much.

In August I was on a business trip to Sydney and was surfing the web when I found a blog interview with a new agent at FinePrint Lit—Suzie Townsend. (Thanks Realm Lovejoy.) I sent my e-query to this new agent and one other agent at 10am on 8/29/09. That was a Saturday. I figured if she was fast, I might expect to hear from her sometime the following week. So I nearly fell off my chair when an email came at 11:30am THAT SAME DAY requesting my manuscript. Less than two hours after my query, my full manuscript was in her hands.

I already had eleven other manuscripts out, some since the middle of June, so I figured I was in for a wait. But another email came just over two weeks later in which she told me she was having some second readers take a look. Coincidentally, I had received a call from another agent that same day offering representation, so I emailed Suzie back to tell her and she sped up the process on her end, calling to offer representation two days later. I received two other offers and sat down with my options.

I ended up choosing Suzie for a multitude of reasons, the biggest of which was her sheer enthusiasm for my novel for no other reason than she loved it. All the agents said they loved it, but they all had personal stories of how the themes of the novel related to their lives. That was nice, and it made me feel really good that my story touched someone, but in truth, I wanted the person representing my novel to just flat out love the writing and the story—no heartstrings attached. That was Suzie.

Suzie had some excellent revision requests, which I worked on for about two weeks, and four weeks after signing with her, we went on submission. Seven weeks after submissions went out Melissa phoned with an offer. Mad scramble—auction—and then my new and totally amazing editor. Whew…

Two months after the original submission, deal done and my novel has an awesome new home. Ten months from concept to sale. I’m truly blessed.

Now for revisions...