Putting a little "x" on life's dream checklist

Seeing my very own book-deal announced in Publisher's Marketplace has been a life dream of mine for the past several years. Basically, Publisher's Marketplace is the authority on the publishing world. They gather news about the industry, report book deals, track sales trends, have a forum for editors and agents to post what they are looking for, etc, etc. Each day they put out a report of recent books deals, and each day I read the list, imagining that my very own book is listed with all the other bright, shiny deals from all the bright, shiny authors. So you can imagine my delight this afternoon when I clicked on the PM deals page and saw this little announcement to the entire publishing world:

January 15, 2009
		Children's: Young Adult		Bree Despain's THE DARK DIVINE, a modern exploration of the Prodigal Son parable with a paranormal twist, to Regina Griffin at Egmont, in a pre-empt, in a two-book deal, by Ted Malawer at Firebrand Literary (NA). ted@firebrandliterary.com

How cool is that?!! I'm one of those bright, shiny authors who deserves space on the glistening webpages of the Publishers Marketplace. Wow, this is all really happening! I can barely believe it.

Sorry, just had to bask in the coolness for a bit.

p.s. FYI, not every book deal gets listed in PM. Just the one's by the "cool" people. j/k

p.p.s. The other thing that is really cool about getting listed in PM (other than official bragging rights, and proof that your book deal isn't just a figment of you imagination) is that occasionally movie producers will go trolling through PM, looking for new project ideas. Not that I'm saying that will happen to me . . .it's just cool to think about the possibility, don't ya think?