Thursday, May 20, 2010

Big Changes in my Life in 5 Easy Updates

Wow. It's been the craziest and best week of my life, so I thought it best to break my life as it stands right now down into a few concise and occasionally illustrated updates.

Update #1: I woke up Monday morning at 9am. I showered at 9:15am. And at 9:30am I was on the phone with my wonderful soon-to-be-editor Courtney, discussing how Simon & Schuster would make a great home for WILDEFIRE. And if you haven't already noticed from the self-indulgent banner I made for the top of this page, we agreed that it was.
I'm not an actor, so I'm having trouble recreating my surprised face. Therefore, I will use the mask that hangs on my wall, which always look surprised, as a stand-in. Also, it has giraffes on its forehead and I do not. Mask: 2, Karsten: 0

Update #2: What could make May even better? Finding an agent who's enthusiastic about my writing, too! I've been fortunate enough to sign on with the lovely Mary Kole from the Andrea Brown Literary Agency, and she's been nothing short of delightful and informative so far. Huzzah!

Update #3: My computer screen is cluttered with open word documents and Excel spreadsheets. What does this mean? I'm writing again, of course--and on the sequel to WILDEFIRE no less. Which leads us to...

Update #4: You know you've chosen the right career when part of work involves spending an entire afternoon with your nose lodged inside a tropical travel guide. No, I can't tell you where (yet) but let's just say I've picked a location for the second book that is near and dear to my heart, and there are going to be some AWESOME and diverse locales to be found in Book 2.

Update #5: Reading. I just finished two wonderful books that I wish I'd completed in time to include in my books that make me want to be a better writer blog.

The Vast Fields of Ordinary by Nick Burd

and Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac by Gabrielle Zevin


Up next on my reading list: WHITE CAT by Holly Black and BEAUTIFUL CREATURES by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl.

Back to the travel books and excel spreadsheets for me. Say goodbye, giraffe mask.

"Shut up and start writing Karsten." ~Mask

5 comments:

  1. Congratulations!! I'm so happy things are moving along in such a positive direction for you!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks Laura! Admissions reunion soon

    ReplyDelete
  3. I love that mask :) just had to say as a collector of African masks.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Congrats, again.

    How did you get your agent? Was it after you got the publisher or before or how'd that whole process work? Did you go the query proposal route?

    Yes, I'm trying to learn from your example.

    ReplyDelete