On Birthdays, Bound Manuscripts and Cake for Breakfast!

It's my birthday today so I always celebrate by having cake for breakfast. :D  That lovely little specimen shown above no longer exists because I have snarfed it down in celebration of sunshine (it's supposed to be 84 here today) and getting older. :D  I'm planning on more cake later in the day.  It's going to be one of those days...... *cackles with happy laughter*

In other, more interesting news, I have received Bound Manuscripts (hopefully you can hear the echo) which is a preliminary version of THE FAERIE RING, bound like a book. See below:

My lovely editor, Susan Chang, my fabulous agent, Kate Schafer Testerman and I are sending these little beauties out to authors and bloggers in the hope that we get some blurbs (short comments expressing undying love for the book) that we can put on my ARC's (Advanced Reader Copies) and eventually, the final book.

It's a little surreal to see these familiar words bound up in book form, and even more bizarre to consider *people* are hopefully reading and enjoying the story.  I might add that when I was writing this book, it NEVER occurred to me that some of these *people* might be reading my work one day. Ah - the power of a dream....

Anyway, that's it from here.  What's new with you?

THE FAERIE RING on submission

Sorry for radio silence this last week. I was in an intensive, week long class on financial analysis of commercial investments culminating in a 4 hour test yesterday. Suffice it to say that talk of faeries and submitting manuscripts to editors sounds much more appealing at the moment!

Which brings me to the great and exciting news - Kate, my lovely agent, has officially sent out THE FAERIE RING to several editors. This would be the time for crossing our fingers and toes, wishing on a star, saying a prayer, throwing a quarter in the wishing well and having a straight shot. Whatever it takes, is what I say. :)

So, now we wait. Anybody else out there waiting? On agents or editors or.....?

Representation - Accepted!

Well, I'm back and I've got exciting news - my dream agent, Kate Schafer Testerman, offered to represent BOTH my manuscripts yesterday! And of course - you know the ending to that story - I said yes! (Those sassy red heels are for the holidays and you, KST - hope you like!)

I listened to Kate moderate a First Pages session at our local SCBWI conference last spring with Arthur Levine and I thought at the time, 'there's the perfect agent for me'. So about a month after the conference I submitted a query and she requested a partial of THE GETHEAS STONE (formerly The Legacy). Then the full. In the meantime, I wrote another manuscript, THE FAERIE RING (formerly The Thief's Apprentice). In September Kate asked for revisions on TGS and said she'd read TFR in the meantime. Well, I finished my revisions about two weeks ago and she's interested in both manuscripts. Yay! :)

We're going to go out with THE FAERIE RING first so I'll keep you posted. Set in London, 1871, TFR is the story of 16 year old Tiki, an orphan and pickpocket, who steals the Queen's ring. What Tiki doesn't know is that the ring is a reservoir that holds a truce between man and the fey. Rieker, a thief from the North End, takes a sudden interest in Tiki and accuses her of taking the ring. Tiki denies the crime, but Rieker begins following her and tells her that not only are the royals seeking return of the Queen's ring, but faeries, some quite vicious, are after the bauble too. Tiki isn't sure what to believe until Clara, a frail and sickly five year old she cares for, is stolen by Larkin, a faerie obsessed with Rieker. Who can Tiki trust? Can she get Clara back and get the reward for the return of the ring?

So, with all the excitement I thought hmmm, maybe I should check my website. It was down. So hopefully that will be fixed sometime soon. Then I wandered over here to the woefully neglected blog. Hmmmm, guess I need to do a little better on the posting thing - but NOW, I might have to something to post about! Woo hoo! Stay in touch - hopefully more good news to come!