The Whole Nine Yards

Nine might just be my lucky number. September is quickly approaching, the ninth month of the year, and with it arrives my favorite season. Fall festivals, gorgeous foliage and pumpkin spice lattes are just around the corner, and I’m already unpacking my coziest sweaters.

Coincidentally today, the twenty-ninth of August, the publication deal for my debut novel was announced in Publishers Marketplace! My best friend sent me a text at exactly 9:00 this morning (I kid you not; I triple checked…) to let me know the news was out!

Children's: Young Adult
A. Lynden Rolland's OF BREAKABLE THINGS, in which a seventeen-year-old, who after her death joins a seemingly benign and secret spirit community, is hunted by dark forces that believe her to be the incarnation of a notorious prophet who helped destroy them ages ago, to Georgia McBride of Month9Books, in a nice deal, for publication in 2014, by Rachael Dugas of Talcott Notch Literary Services (World English).

I screamed so loudly my one-year-old began to cry, and my four-year-old told me to go sit in time-out... 

Finally!!! I have been sitting on this news for months, and actually now that I think about it, Georgia McBride of Month9Books first proposed the deal to my agent in June, exactly nine months after we began the submission process.

I’m having a hard time grasping the reality of the situation. The reality being that this is my dream come true. My book will be sitting on a shelf at my local bookstore, new and glossy, just waiting for some drama-hungry teenager (or adult) to pick it up and take it home! Throughout the painfully long process of writing a book, editing a book, pitching to agents, getting rejected by agents, signing with an agency, submitting to publishers, and getting rejected by publishers… even during the moments of triumph, I never allowed myself to drift all the way up to cloud nine. Being there amidst the clouds would only mean I'd have further to fall, and I have certainly fallen a few (dozen) times. But last Friday, following a conference call with some amazing people and incredible writers, I began to believe that maybe it was finally time to let myself go, to float upward and revel in the moment. I will actually get the opportunity to work with the innovative and talented staff of Month9Books. Unbelievable.

To Georgia McBride, (Rachel Bateman, Brittany Howard,) and of course Rachael Dugas, thank you from the bottom of my heart. You’ve given me optimism and self-worth. I'm in awe of you.