Ha!

So, it's funny that on a day that my blog is being linked to and viewed by many, many more strangers than usual, I have an entry on my main page containing the phrase "cream your jeans." The good news is that most people are going to straight to the Agent Day entry and not reading more. Well, I don't know if it's good or bad news, really. I just had a moment of, Oh, no! What have I done? Should I lock my "Bad" Words" entry?

This is what I get for deciding to go ahead and be openly edgy or whatever. La la la. (I'm not going to lock it, just so you know.)

Happy Agent Day, Jim McCarthy!

Kody Keplinger organized an Agent Appreciation Day for today of which Lisa and Laura Roecker are helping us all keep track!! Here's mine:

Having Jim McCarthy offer to represent me was one of the the biggest and best surprises of my life.

The year 2008 wasn't one of my favorites. I spent nine months querying my manuscript and getting rejections on it. Other writers kept telling me they could tell by the content of my rejection letters, and by the fact that many agents were asking to see my next project, that I was getting close. I just needed to find the right agent for this story. I was having a hard time believing them.

The first business day of 2009 was Monday, January 5th. That afternoon, my friend Phoebe Kitanidis's agent emailed me after having received my query and partial a few days before Christmas. He asked to see the full manuscript. It was very exciting, but I'd been down this road before, so I kept my optimism in check. After work that night, I went home and read everything online that I could about this Jim McCarthy guy.

Now, I already knew the basics. Which agency he was with, several of the authors he represented, stuff like that. I'd heard enough wonderful things to know that it would be awesome to get the chance to work with him. But reading his blogs that night on the Dystel & Goderich site (every single one of them) was what helped me to get to know much more about him. This one, in particular, made me decide that Jim was, quite possibly, my favorite agent that I would never have. It was with a sinking feeling that I went to bed that night, knowing that an agent this cool would never love my book.

And this is where the big surprise came in. The very next day, I was at my desk when I got a call from a phone number I didn't recognize in the 212. I thought: There's no way it could be Jim McCarthy. He only got the full yesterday!

But it was! After he'd introduced himself, he told me he wanted to represent me, that he loved my book, that he loved the characters! By this time, I'd gotten up from my chair to stare out the window, trying to figure out how this could be possible. How I could have gone to bed wishing for something and to have it happen the very next day?

I was able to accept his offer the following week, and I have to say, working with Jim has been a pleasure from the start. He's positive, responsive, and always so helpful during those (many) times when I'm being clueless. And, hey! He sold my debut YA novel after only about five weeks on submission!

Every single day, I am grateful that I get to work with him and that I have him on my side. The opportunity he gave me in taking on me and my book has changed my life in so many ways. None of it would have happened without my agent.

Thank you, Jim, for everything you do for me. For reminding me to breathe when I'm being way dramatic, for always being willing to listen to me and offer advice, for using those smiley faces in your emails that look like "J"s in my browser. You really are my favorite agent ever!

"Bad" words.

I used to hang out with a girl who had an aversion to the word "moist," and she couldn't handle hearing it spoken aloud. Naturally, in her presence, it would often happen that someone would say a thing like, "Mmmm. I love this cake. It's so light and moi--"

Right then, she would jump in with, "DON'T EVEN SAY IT."

The other person would make their most innocent face and respond with: "Say what? Moist?"

And then the shrieking and laughter would commence.

There's a word out there that affects me, but not in such a dramatic way as all that. It's more like I hear it, tense up, and want to leave the premise. That word is "cream" when used as a verb. (Not as a noun. And not when a barista says: "Do you want whipped cream on your hot chocolate?" I can totally be on board with that.)

Back in the olden days after I turned twenty-one, I went to a bar with a couple of girls on a Tuesday night or something. One of them said, "Oh, they make the best popcorn in the world here! I swear, you try it and you'll cream your jeans."

I had never heard anyone say such a horrible thing. The imagery. Oh, the imagery! I was like, "I'll do what?"

Both girls gave me Looks. I guess because I was being immature? Because grown-up twenty-one-year olds should be able to say, "Cream your jeans" without people freaking out? The thing is, here it is eleven years later and I still remember how I felt when she said that. Like, yuck. And, in fact, I felt the same way then that I do now when I hear "Grease Lightning" from Grease: You are supreme / The chicks'll cream for grease lightning.

*shudder*

(Ah, and re-reading this, I see that it seems to be the sentiment that gets to me more than the actual word. Interesting, because I can and do say all sorts of other filthy things along those lines that don't bother me in the slightest.)

Revisions completed.

I finished my revisions today, and I am so very, very exhausted. I feel like I've made this into a better book. I mean, I know I have. There's only one change I made that I'm feeling uncertain about. Reading the draft again might have been enough to ease my mind or help me figure out how to fix it, but I cannot do it.

The big question here is: will this be the book my editor was hoping for? I hope so. I'll find that out after she reads it!

Still going.

My manuscript has been revised, and at this time yesterday, I truly thought I'd be done by now. But while reading it aloud to myself for final polishing, I decided about three quarters into it that something is missing. I read to the end. A couple of hours later, I realized exactly what that something is. A couple of hours after that, I figured out what I need to do to fix it.

So, no, I'm not done like I wanted to be. There's more work to do. More sleep to lose.

I did just realize that the only person in the world who has read this version of the draft is me. It's been a very long time since that has been true (February 2008, I believe). I'm definitely looking forward to getting this out of here so my editor can read it and we can move on in the process. Still, it's kind of a cool feeling to be the only one. There have been lots of little changes, as well as some brand-new scenes added. For right now, they are mine! All mine!