Novel + Sold = Best Birthday present EVER
I’ll start with the important stuff. Shades of Milk and Honey, my Jane Austen with magic novel, has sold to Liz Gorinsky at Tor in a two-book deal. My fabulous agent, Jennifer Jackson, and I have been sitting on this news for a little over a week while we worked out details. Hardest thing ever. It was like having a birthday present that I could pick up and shake but not open.
So today, I was sitting in a Thai restaurant with John Scalzi when the phone rang. Normally, I ignore it when I’m on social time, but I had it out because I was on call for the theater. Needless to say, I’m glad that I picked the phone up because Jenn told me the amazing, amazing news that we’ve sold not just one book, but two books. John immediately turned and announced it to everyone in the restaurant and they all clapped. I’m still blushing.
Last week, Jenn called with the initial news while I was frantically mixing disappearing blood for the theater. So I was squealing with excitement while measuring ingredients into a beaker. Then had to run down there without being able to tell anyone. Well… I called my parents, clearly. Here’s what I wrote on the subway after the call.
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I’m writing this on the subway on my way to the theater. It’ll be a week or more before you get to read it, but I’m simply bursting. I just got off the phone with my wonderful agent, Jennifer Jackson, who let me know that Liz Gorinsky, at Tor, has made an offer for Shades of Milk and Honey.
!!!!!!
There are all these people on the train and I’m surprised that they can’t tell that I’ve just SOLD A NOVEL because I’m glowing. Since it’s still in the offer stage, it’s a secret beyond telling a few friends and family but I want to turn to the man sitting next to me on the train and say, “Excuse me. You don’t know me, but I just found out that I’ve sold my first novel and I had to tell someone.†Heck, I want to tell EVERYBODY.
I’ve called my parents, of course, but Rob doesn’t know yet, because he’s at work. Tonight is a late night for him, he won’t get off work until three. How in the world am I going to contain myself until he gets home?
ooo… Weeping with joy on the subway would probably be a bad plan. But I’m so thrilled. So very thrilled that I don’t think my vocabulary is large enough to express it. On the other hand, it can be summed up as, “I sold my first novel!â€
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Scalzi seems pretty proud of you. And despite the bacon fixation, he seems pretty normal. So if he approves, you must be darned good.
I am looking forward to seeing your new book on the shelves of my local Indie Bookstore.
Congratulations on the two book deal!
Congratulations! I look forward to reading more from you (though I have to admit that Austen’s not the strongest pitch for me…)
This made me think of your novel:
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/510XXFxXXGL._SS500_.jpg
(Note: It’s a real book.)
Hooray! Many Congrats.
It was only a matter of time!
YAY!!!
I’ll be at the head of the long line of folks waiting to buy it!
That is amazing news to hear. I am very proud of you. Many more wonderful successful adventures to come. Much Light, AK.
CONGRATULATIONS!!!! One of the best feelings in the world, isn’t it, to find out that you’ve sold?!! Especially in this crazy market. I was incommunicado in Costa Rica two weeks ago when an urgent CALL ME!!! email downloaded on my phone as we drove through a fleeting wifi hotspot area. Then I was incommunicado for another 3 hours before I could find a place to email, then call her to learn the great news! Enjoy the afterglow
Congratulations! I can feel your glow coming through the screen…or maybe there’s something wrong with my monitor. Either way, congratulations!
Congratulations Mary! That is just brilliantly fantastic!
Go girl go. You have worked hard for it. Yea!
Brilliant! This is fantastic news, Mary. Big big congratulations. It couldn’t have happened to a nicer person.
Well done!Well deserved.Since I first came across your work(Evil Robot Monkey)and sent my first and only fan e-mail the quality of your writing has stood out.Now comes the recognition.Onward and upward! J.S.
Congratulations! I read & enjoyed yr online version, and look forward very much to getting the analog version when it hits bookstores.
Thanks! And the version you read was the raw draft, posted as I wrote it. The final will include some scenes that you’ve not seen. Whee!
OMG there is not a YAY big enough!! I’m sorry I didn’t get here earlier, but Congratulations!!! Heck yeah! I can’t wait to buy it!!!Eleventy!!!
Thank you!
Congratulations for getting published! We need more NaNo novels to hit store shelves! And two books at that.
I may very well need a bigger bookshelf!
Thank you! More people need to finish and edit their NaNos.
My nanos both need so much work, they actually need rewrites.
I’m tackling at least one of them during edmo, maybe both.