Prom For Writers
Let me check… yep, yep. I recognize this feeling. It’s the exact same way I felt when I got asked to go to the prom my sophomore year of high school. Butterflies in the stomach, stupid grin on my face, wondering if I could be dreaming.
But this time it’s not the captain of the gymnastics team who’s got me all aflutter. It’s my new literary agent, Suzie Townsend, of Fineprint Literary. (All the writers reading this just went “Squeeee!” All the others went “So?”) The contracts are on their way to New York — a few days ahead of me, coincidentally, as I am still attending the Backspace Conference next week. I’ll just be way more relaxed. Except I get to meet Suzie in person, and that makes me all “Does this manuscript make my butt look big?” and “What do possibly-successful-looking writers wear in NYC?” I guess I am as neurotic as all the other writers out there.
I am so hoping the prom analogy dies here, because I have pictures of that dress I wore. It was hideous, even for the 80s. I’m praying my manuscript won’t be. Must… revise… even… more….
This entry was posted on Thursday, October 29th, 2009 at 3:21 am and is filed under Children's Fiction. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
12:37 pm on October 29th, 2009
Congratulations Nikki! That is super!And it’s so nice that you will get to meet her in person so soon. I’m very happy for you.
2:30 pm on October 29th, 2009
Congrats, Nikki! That is awesome!
2:59 pm on October 29th, 2009
Congratulations! (though I’ve been congratulating you for about a week already, I have to make this public so everyone knows that you have a supportive, caring husband).
BTW, you just got a congratulatory tweet from a photographer contact of mine in the UK who says he has a friend who’s been trying to get an agent for 15+ years!
4:01 pm on October 29th, 2009
YAY!! And finally the news goes public. Do you know that two days is like a lifetime for your writer friends who want to shout about this for you? Make sure you have the waiter take a pic of you two at lunch. Hey, if he wants his 20%, he’ll do whatever you ask… a light, even glaze on the creme brulee, please — oh, and don’t get your thumb in the picture either, buddy.
Hoping to hear sale news soon!
4:31 pm on October 29th, 2009
Wow! How wonderful. Now you can just sit back and enjoy New York. It just goes to show, good writing finds the right agent and soon will find the right publisher too. See you in NYC!
5:08 pm on October 29th, 2009
Congrats! You’re going to love working with Suzie. She’s a rock star!!! Welcome to FinePrint!
(I’m jealous that you get to meet her. I haven’t made the trek to NYC.)
7:16 pm on October 29th, 2009
Thanks, Vonna! It feels very surreal. Maybe I’ll see you at the Tx Book Festival?
7:17 pm on October 29th, 2009
Thanks, honeybun. Let it be known that my husband is wonderful, supporting, caring… and I wish he would cook dinner tonight to prove all that, once again.
Dang, I might have given up at 15 years.
7:18 pm on October 29th, 2009
Thanks, Tricia! I’ll look for you this weekend!
7:20 pm on October 29th, 2009
Shelli — you are so awesome. I just didn’t feel like I could spill until the contracts were mailed! Must go tell my BB friends now… or my new (ahem) Twitter buds?
Oh, Gosh. I just realized: I may be expected to Tweet now or something.
If I’m Tweeting, though, I’m not writing. I’m procrastinating. SO maybe I shouldn’t….?
7:21 pm on October 29th, 2009
Thanks, April! Can’t wait!
7:22 pm on October 29th, 2009
Lisa! We’re agent sisters now, right? How fun. I’ll trot over to your blog and comment on things….
hey, wait. It says you got Suzie to re-do your synopsis. I wonder if I can con her into that, too! I wrote mine kinda hastily… I can smell it, sitting there on my hard drive, stinking so hard…
12:30 am on October 30th, 2009
Congrats Nikki! I am beyond jealous.
Lisa
12:50 am on October 30th, 2009
Nah, Lisa. Your turn next!
Thanks! See you next week.
2:30 am on October 30th, 2009
Congrats! Suzie rocks.
2:44 am on October 30th, 2009
Didn’t acutally need a synopsis of the book we’ve got on submission, but we needed a series synopsis. I don’t write with an outline and had no idea where the rest of the series was going, so kinda tough to write a synopsis.
Suzie is a godsend!
3:03 am on October 30th, 2009
Thanks, Dan! You have one very awesome query on your site, BTW. And I hear your agent is a total shark;) Nice work.
3:04 am on October 30th, 2009
Good to know! I’ve got the next book outlined (um, in my brain, that is) and started as of tonight!
4:46 am on October 30th, 2009
Congratulations!!! Suzie really does rock!
4:16 pm on October 30th, 2009
I’ll bet you looked beautiful at that prom(surely the dress was totally hip back then). And you’re gonna shine in NYC. I’ll take pictures of you with your “just signed with an agent” glow.
Said it before, and I’ll say it again, CONGRATULATIONS!!