Happy News!!!

I started writing seriously a couple of years ago. I started a blog. I updated it regularly. I even made it public. In other words, I told people in my real life and on Facebook *gasp*. I dove into the online community which I soon found to be amazing!

That's right, Dean. The writing community is awesome.

While I was realizing that my first book was crap, I was researching. I personally looked at agent researching as window shopping. It's fun to daydream that one day, that fabled, beautiful day, you'll land that agent. That you'll have what they're looking for.

For me, things developed crazily. I happened to draw the attention of Heather Howland, a genius editor at Entangled Publishing. She wanted to publish my book about nerds in love. I went with it. Why? Why wouldn't I? It was a day that will live in infamy in my memory, the day I signed that contract. 

Things rocked on. I learned even more about how things work like what the process really is when your book is being published. The Summer I Became a Nerd released. And people actually liked it! 

"This is crazy! What is air? What is life?" Those were the questions I was asking myself.

It took me a while to figure out what I needed/wanted to do next. I found that I love this business despite its craziness. I wanted to continue doing this. 

So, I came up with more ideas. After a favorable response from many people, I decided I should shoot for the moon. So I did the thing you're supposed to do at the beginning. I queried.

Now, remember, I've done my research. Almost three years of it (some people have researched longer, just sayin'). Research research research! That's always the advice I give. 

 I worked up a query that would hopefully show off my writing style and my experience. I'm still not sure if it did that, but I queried my top agents and got interest. 

I got requests.  

And after making sure that she had good opinions about all the things that are important to me like Sriracha and Prince (unfortunately, Tom Hiddleston wasn't really on her radar, but I'm taking all the credit for the inevitable Hiddles obsession she will develop), I signed with Jenny Bent of The Bent Agency!!!!

Then I proceeded to happy cry, drink wine, and eat chocolate!

I did things really differently, guys. It worked for me and I wouldn't have it any other way. So, here's what I think you should do: Follow your heart. 

Do your best, write the best words you can. (then edit the mess out of them)

Research, research, research!

Decide where you want your career to go, then go there, but be smart about it.

Be nice. Be respectful. 

And above all, never give up!