Agent / Book Deal Squee!

Posted February 11th, 2014 by emmycurt in Books, Catching up, Giveaway / 12 comments

The end of 2013 was a embarrassment of unimaginable (for me) riches. This was in today’s Publishers Marketplace (if your eyes are like mine, you may have to click on it for the larger verison!):

*Dies*

. No effing way…

In fact a few good things happened in 2013.

Last year, my husband was promoted, which was, and still is, a big deal for us. He has served in the US Armed Forces for 23 years, and with his promotion, signed up for another three, at least. As George Washington allegedly said, “Enlisted men are stupid, but extremely cunning and sly, and bear considerable watching.” Well, none of the ones I’ve met are stupid, but the rest is definitely true.

. Watch those sly, cunning enlisted guys…

It was my husband and his hard-working, determined colleagues that gave me the idea for the series I wanted to write. I wanted to explore the worlds of those heroes who are a little more low-key than other combat troops.

So, the opposite of Rob Riggle, for example (NSFW):

So I wrote a novella first, and subbed that as a lead-in to a series. I was lucky enough to get several offers, and Laura Bradford from Bradford Literary Agency offered to take me on as a client, and she negotiated a deal with Grand Central Publishing. The series will be called ALPHA OPS. More details to follow!

I’d like to thank some people who undoubtedly were instrumental in helping me get here. Of course to Laura Bradford and Leah Hultenschmidt, for taking a risk on me! But also Ophelia London who bullied and encouraged me into cranking out my first drafts, and then took one for the team and beta read them as well. Tahra, who has been as excited as me about this, and isn’t scared at all about giving me stern feedback and amazing advice, and Heather Howland who took me on as her assistant, and taught me what a fantastic book looked like, and my 5am writer friends, Kristi Chestnutt, and Erin Fletcher, who are also fabulous writers and are remarkably peppy before coffee. Me, not so much.

Also, I’d like to thank the most giving writers in my online world: Sooz Dennard and Sarah Maas. These two authors not only write spectacular YA books, but they never fail to give back to aspiring writers, whether it’s running writing classes, or cheering people through NaNo sprints. I took their writing Masterclass a few years ago and…wow. Seriously, follow them, read their blogs, and buy their books. It’s the ultimate in writer karma.

Thank you to Leah Rae Miller, who is never without an appropriate gif or video for every situation you could possibly imagine. You can test her. No really, feel free to – she’s the best!

And lastly, I really wouldn’t be here without the amazing online support of so many other people. Twitter and writer blogs have made the world so much smaller, and it’s been a joy to connect to like-minded people no matter where I was in the world. Thank you. Really. Take a bow.

. You mean the world to me…

P.S. I will be changing my Twitter name soon to reflect my pen name, so please bear with me if you suddenly see an Emmy Curtis in your timeline.

P.P.S. The contest to win a signed copy of Ophelia London’s ABBY ROAD is open until the end of February – go enter in the blog post below! Help me..I need cocktails…