Mr.-Agent-Puzzle for Cash

bath photoThis is IT.

This is BIG.

This is THE NEWS.

This morning I got up, got signing, and got my agent!!

Photo Credit: imagerymajestic at freeditigalphotos.net

(Wait, are you confused by the picture?  Why?  I celebrate with my husband like this all the time.)

Yay!!  It’s been such a fun week of congratulations from everyone from twitter-strangers to ex-boyfriends.  Thanks so much!  Now, I don’t want to set myself up for sorrow if my book doesn’t sell (yes, publishers will still have their say), but I DO want to be excited for where I’m at in this process and share that excitement.

In fact, the manuscript I queried, Shatter, is a young adult mystery suspense, so I’ve decided to stick to a covert theme.  If I had party favors for you, they’d be fake mustaches.  And instead of just announcing who I’ve signed with, I’ve set up a simple (simple!) puzzle.  I have a list of books below mostly from my genre, the first letters of which, when unjumbled, spell my fabulous agent’s name.  Solve it and be entered to win a $35 Barnes and Noble gift card.  Yay, prizes!

First Name Clues:

Snitch by Allison van Diepen
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Outsiders (The) by S.E. Hinton

Last Name Clues:

Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly
Looking for Alaska by John Green
The Maze Runner by James Dashner
Goose Girl by Shannon Hale
Eleanor and Park by John Green
Zombie Kid by Jeff Savage
Extras by Scott Westerfeld

 

Hint: If you solve the first name puzzle and hope to use Google for help with the second, make sure to put the phrase “literary agent” in your search.

Leave your guess as a comment below.  (It won’t show up.)

Some of you know what Shatter is about from when it won the LDStorymakers’ First Chapter contest.  (*COUGH* the first two pages here *COUGH*)  For everyone else, I’ll end with the opening lines of the query letter that caught my agent’s attention.  Think of it like a jacket cover for the book.

Salem isn’t crazy, but she knows about conspiracies.  She’s putting a JFK conspiracy theory on mock trial at school.

Salem isn’t popular like her dead sister Carrie was, but she knows who’s involved in the real-life conspiracy behind Carrie’s death.

Her Verona High classmates.

Thanks, everyone!  The contest will go until Saturday night to give my LDStorymaker friends a chance at the action.  I’ll announce the answer and the winner on Sunday.  (Plus more deets on my agent!)

Attention:  I just found out people are having trouble leaving a comment.  If you don’t see a way to comment directly under this, click here.  You’ll see the post again and, under it, the comment section.  I hope.  I’m so new at this.  Sorry for the technical errors!

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Happiness is Exhausting

ID-100194503 girl excited

I have an offer of representation from a literary agent for SHATTER.  I can’t believe I just wrote that. I’m pretty calm, all things considered.

(Excuse me while I type some exclamation points.)

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Photo credit: (www.freedigitalphotos.net)

You may not know this, but agents and editors are pretty much batman in terms of secrecy.  I don’t know all the rules of batman secrecy, but I’m afraid if I break them, I’ll be sent back to query hell.  So until the ink is dry, I have an agent named Mr. Agent, got it?  I need to look through the contract he sent . . .  professional courtesy requires . . . yada yada—what I’m saying is, by April 24th, I’ll have some news!!! 

I’ll have THE NEWS!

Thank you all so much for rooting for me and sharing the ups, the downs, and the waiting. There will be more.  (Hello, submission to publishing houses!?!??)  Anyway, so glad I’ve got great people on my team!

Oh, and I’m going to try to finish the edits Mr. Agent wants by June 1st.  I want to jump while the iron’s hot.  J

Yay!

Yay, yay, yay!

(I’m not done yet.)

YAY, YAY, YAY, YAY, YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Posted in Uncategorized | 7 Comments