I am absolutely thrilled to announce that I am now represented as an
author by Danielle Barthel and Suzie Townsend of New Leaf Literary & Media,
Inc. in New York.
New Leaf is a major force particularly in the Young Adult arena, representing
lots of amazing authors including Veronica Roth, who wrote the Divergent Trilogy, and Victoria Aveyard
whose debut novel, Red Queen, went
straight to No. 1 on the New York Times
YA bestsellers list the week it was published in February.
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| Danielle Barthel and Suzie Townsend |
Every author has a story to tell about his or her own distinct path to
representation and eventually to publication, and one of these days, I’ll tell
you where I am on my path. But in the meantime, my enormous and heartfelt thanks go to Danielle
and Suzie at New Leaf for responding almost immediately to my plaintive
submission email, for reading my WW2 love story over a sunny weekend when they
could have been out enjoying themselves, and then for welcoming me into the New
Leaf Literary family with such open and encouraging arms.
Every un-agented writer harbors a suspicion
that agents are all mean people who get a thrill out of saying “No!” to hard-working
writers who just want a break. Well, from Danielle and Suzie at New Leaf, I
got a whole bunch of "Yes!”.
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| Nikki Loftin photo by Rae Dollard |
I must also send a huge thank you to the wonderful Nikki Loftin for being so generous in putting in a good word for me with Suzie at New Leaf,
who also represents her. Nikki is an
active member of the Austin chapter of Society of Children’s Book Writers and
Illustrators. She not only gave me my first ever SCBWI conference critique,
back in 2012, later in the day when she also saw me standing alone at a
reception, she immediately took my arm and started introducing me to other
writers she knew. Some wonderful friendships began with that kind gesture and
first introduction, but I could never have guessed that years later, Nikki
would make yet another crucially important introduction for me. Thank you,
Nikki – I still owe you that cocktail with the pink umbrella.
I can’t wait to tell you more about this roller-coaster journey towards
publication, as it all plays out, but for the time being, I’ll try to contain
my excitement at having Danielle and Suzie on my team, and try to work out how
to round off this post without resorting to some clichéd comment about me
turning over a New Leaf…
Darn it!
