Oh, it feels so good to type that. On this day of giving thanks, I want to take a moment to thank all of you who have been so influential in my writing journey. I can’t thank you enough for the critiques and love and support you’ve all given me over the years. I wouldn’t have been able to get this far without you!

Nor would I have come this far without my family who’ve been so loving and supporting of my writing moods and neglected housework. I’m so blessed to have such a wonderful husband and children and extended family. Love you guys!!!

On to the announcement.

For those who haven’t heard, I’ve signed with Jennifer DeChiara of The Jennifer DeChiara Literary Agency. As most of you know, I write for children and have been focusing on young adult and middle grade novels. Back in 2008, I entered the 2nd Annual Cheerios New Author Contest with the one and only picture book manuscript I’d written (though I’ve written a few more since). The story was posted on the Cheerios Spoonfuls of Stories website in 2009 and stayed up there until 2010 when the new winners were announced. After the story was taken off the site, the rights were returned to me. Hubby started bugging me to try to query with it, but I was too focused on my YA at the time and ignored him.

I finally started querying with it (though I was also querying with my YA) in September, but only “on the side.” I received some interest from an agent, but since I didn’t have any other picture book manuscripts she was interested in, she ended up passing. It only took a few weeks before another agent got back to me. This time, she didn’t ask for more manuscripts—she made an offer. I emailed the other agents and let them know I had an offer, and received another offer!

To be honest, I was a bit disappointed that it was my PB that had landed the offers, but the disappointment didn’t last long. In the end, one of the reasons I signed with Jennifer is because she offered to represent my entire career, not just the picture book. She also gave me great feedback and suggested a couple of tweaks that have helped the manuscript. She also suggested I write more picture books along the same lines as the one she fell in love with. I’d never considered this, but I’m loving every minute of it. I’ve already written one (doing some revising) and started another!

I’m so excited to be able to work with Jennifer! She’s so awesome, she’s agreed to do an interview to post on the blog. Keep an eye out for that in the near future.

May you all have a joyous and wonderful Thanksgiving Day!!

Write on.