Almost exactly a year ago, I conjured up an idea. An idea for a picture book. It was the title that jumped into my head, and I had to do something with it. But what? The first drafts were laughable, snortable, and not in a good way. I pushed through the bad writing, and a story started to develop. I could see it. A story worthy of the title. When the draft was as good as I could make it, I queried it to agents. I got rejected by agents. I pitched it via Twitter contests like #PBPitch, #PitchMas, and #PitMad. It got some interest from agents. It was selected as a finalist in a contest. It was requested by a publisher. That very publisher asked for a revise and resubmit. And, I did. I revised and revised and revised and resubmitted. Back and forth. I wondered where this would lead to.
It led to an email. An email with that title–the very title that stole my imagination–and the word “OFFER” next to it. I just happened to be at a Jack Brown Cleaners at the time when I got said email. All I could do was jump. Then my son started jumping with me and asked, “Why are we jumping?” I didn’t answer because I was too busy, ya know, jumping, squealing, and pointing at my son. He cracked his signature smile, held my hand, and kept jumping. The lady who brought around the dry cleaning didn’t know what to do with us. So, I pointed at her all while jumping, and said “YEAH! YEAH! YEAH!” I didn’t care how ridiculous I looked. The moment was made for jumping.
That offer brought me together with the best literary agent for me! That offer became a contract I signed today with Page Street Publishing Company! I can’t wait to bring this book to the world and read it aloud to as many kids as I can, so hopefully it can make them laugh and snort, but in a very very good way. More details to come…