Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Shout-outs for a few lucky friends

Hey all-

Since it's St. Patrick's Day, I thought I would take a minute to give props to a few of my friends who have had a lot of good luck lately. (And when I say good luck, I mean they are finally reaping the rewards of all their hard, hard work. And you know, a little bit of good fortune mixed in with the work too.)

The first shout-out goes to my friend Matt Kirby ,who just sold his Middle Grade debut novel to Scholastic in a preempt. It is slated to come out Fall of 2010. I haven't read this book yet, but I can assure you that if Matt wrote it, the writing is guaranteed to be superb.

The second shout-out goes to my friend Elena Jube, who just landed a fabulous agent for her novel based on the fairytale Thrushbeard. Her book is wonderful with an enchanting romance that made me neglect all my household duties (more than usual, that is) just so I could finish it. And she even used a few of my suggestions when revising. Neat. You can read more about her journey over on her brand new blog.

(Side Note: Matt, Elena, and I all met in a writing workshop almost 2 years ago, so I think it's extra cool that we're all coming into our writing careers at about the same time.)

The third shout-out goes to my agent sister Brodi Ashton who turned in her final revisions to Agent Ted last week, and she should be going out on submissions any minute now. I'll keep you posted on her progress. Plus, she gets to celebrate by stalking her mocha honey, Rafa. And she'd better come back with pics! Oh yeah, and her book is freaking hilarious. . .and one of the guys in her novel looks like Rafa. (Drool.)

The last shout-out goes to one of my new Tenners buddies, Lindsey Leavitt, who is celebrating that her YA novel, PRINCESS FOR HIRE, comes out 1 year from today by having a "good luck" contest on her blog. Pop over there and leave a comment about a time you experienced good luck, and she'll enter you in a drawing for one of 5 sweet prizes (4 are YA books, the 5th is a writing critique.) Plus, her post talks about the influence of "good luck" on a writer's odds of getting published. Worth checking out, and definitely worth entering the contest.

Hope you all have a wonderfully lucky week! And if you win a book, can I borrow it?

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the shout-out, Bree! I do think it's utterly cool that the three of us are all entering this next stage in out careers at the same time. I suspect Elena will have good news for us soon, and we'll all three be 10ers!

Alyosha said...

I feel so proud to be associated with all of you! Maybe in a few years I'll catch up. :)

Anonymous said...

I have no doubt you will, Julie, and will probably pass us right on by!

Bree Biesinger Despain said...

Speak for yourself, Matt! J/K Julie, once you get out of that foggy newborn baby mama-hood, you'll probably leave the rest of us in the dust.

Elena Jarvis Jube said...

Thanks, Bree! That was so nice of you. Even a link to my blog...I think it's pretty cool that this is happening all at once, too. I feel so lucky right now to be connected with all of you. 2010 is a great year for books already. Can't wait to buy yours and Matt's.

And Julie, you WILL get there. How a person can think, let alone write, during post-partum crud, I can't imagine. I never could. You're miles ahead of where I was during the baby years.

Happy revising, Bree!

Alyosha said...

You guys are too nice! I feel so lucky to have you all as friends. You're inspiring!

Brodi Ashton said...

Thanks for the shout-out, mon ami. And I just clicked on the Rafa link. I'm blushing.