The Query That Got Me My Agent

Okay, I tried to post a link to the query that got me my agent on the #pitchwars thread, but people had difficulty opening up the Absolute Write thread. So here it is - I especially wanted to share it because quieter contemporary stories can be a little tricky to query. The stakes aren't as dramatic, but they still have to be clear and compelling. This got me eleven requests and one amazing agent. Let me know if you have any questions!

When eleven-year-old Natalia is chosen as a special guide to new girl Winnie, she’s thrilled. She’s never singled out for anything, unlike her siblings, who are all prodigies at something, even if it’s just being adorable (like two-year-old Claude). But now Natalia gets to show Winnie around, and Winnie’s not just new—she’s also blind.

Winnie’s blindness is soon the least interesting thing about her. Winnie and Natalia both love show tunes, hate snobby Hayden Marcos, and Winnie doesn’t even seem to mind Natalia’s chaotic household (complete with constant bagpipe practice, a boy named Rat, and a glass bottomed boat in the backyard).

When it comes time to choose an Afterschool Annex class, Natalia’s ready. She’s been yearning to do Dance Team for years. But then awful Hayden starts closing in. If Natalia doesn’t choose an activity she can do with Winnie, Hayden will swoop in and steal her away, just like she stole Natalia’s previous best friend. If Natalia seizes the chance to shine like her siblings, she may risk the best friendship she’s ever had.

WHY THE WOLF WEARS LIP GLOSS, AND OTHER LEGENDS OF THE SIXTH GRADE is a 41,000-word middle grade contemporary that may appeal to fans of THE BRILLIANT FALL OF GIANNA Z or EMMA JEAN LAZARUS FELL OUT OF A TREE. 

Pitch Wars 2014 - Gimme Your Middle Grade! (Also, hi, how are you, I'm Joy)

 I’m so excited to be back for my second year as a Pitchwars mentor!!! I had the best time last year and I can’t wait to dig into your awesome submissions. And why should you grace me with your middle grade submission??

First of all, because I HAVE BEEN WHERE YOU ARE. My agent search was epic. You can read about it HERE. But here’s the short version: three+ years, 5 manuscripts, 290 queries, 47 full requests, one offer from one of the absolute best agents there is: Sara Crowe.

So if you are in that place where you are SO CLOSE YOU CAN TASTE IT? I’ve been there. And gotten to the other side. And I want to help you get there too.

Making this Harry Potter quilt took almost as
long as it took me to find an agent.
(Okay, not that long.)

I’m going to pick something I love and really want to dig into, whether or not it is likely to be contest-friendly. That’s what I did when I picked Laura Shovan’s gorgeous contemporary verse novel last year, and it worked out pretty well, since she signed with Stephen Barbara and sold (at auction) a two-book deal with Wendy Lamb Books. So if you’ve got a manuscript you think might be “too quiet” for a contest, I’m interested. (Which doesn’t mean you shouldn’t also send me something rollicking and splashy—I’m into those, too!)

Whatever it is, I’m going to dig in. I’m not here to nitpick your grammar and word choices – though we will shine those up if they need it. But if you get as far as being chosen for Pitchwars, you’ve probably got the mechanics of writing down. Competition was TIGHT last year, you guys. My focus is going to be on story. How can we make your story the most compelling it can be, whether it’s a high fantasy or quiet contemporary? I’m likely to hone in on big story elements that need to be changed/strengthened/added. So don’t apply to me unless you’re ready to get down to some serious work.

I love helping writers. I work as a freelance editor and ghostwriter, helping people craft and hone the stories they envision, and I’ve done this for fifteen years. For ten of those years, I did classroom arts residencies in K-12 classrooms as a playwright, helping young writers find their voices and express them.

A recent library haul.

I’m a contributor to the MG group blog Project Mayhem. I am an active critique partner and beta reader to a whole host of wonderful writers, and all of my close CPs have gotten agents and deals with major publishers. I also work as an assistant to a NYT bestselling MG author.

HERE’s my post from last year on why you should pick me. And HERE’s a Project Mayhem post I wrote about the things I learned from last year’s Pitchwars slush, which may help you prepare your submission.  You can read more about me AT MY WEBSITE, and read an interview with playwright me HERE and mentor me HERE.

So what am I looking for? My tastes in middle grade are pretty broad, but my very favorite categories are contemporary and magical realism, with bonus points for diverse stories. There are exceptions to all of these, but here are the things I’m not as wild about: high fantasy, sci-fi, gross-out humor.

And here’s a list of some of my very favorite MG books (excluding the obvious, like Rowling, Cleary, Dahl, etc.):

The Penderwicks series by Jeanne Birdsall

Rooftoppers by Katherine Rundell

Splendors & Glooms AND A Drowned Maiden’s Hair by Laura Amy Schlitz

The Clementine series by Sara Pennypacker

Wonder by RJ Palacio

His Dark Materials by Phillip Pullman

A Crooked Kind of Perfect and Hound Dog True by Linda Urban

The Tale of Despereaux, Flora & Ulysses and Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo

Emma Jean Lazarus Fell Out of a Tree by Lauren Tarshish

Walk Two Moons and Love That Dog by Sharon Creech

The Winnie Years series by Lauren Myracle

Better Nate Than Ever and Five, Six, Seven, Nate by Tim Federle

The Underland Chronicles by Suzanne Collins

May B by Caroline Starr Rose

Inside Out and Back Again by Thanhha Lai

When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead

The Boy in the Dress by David Walliams

My crazy-eyed dog Athena says you should apply to me.
Hopefully I'm a better mentor than a dog trainer.

So what’s next? Go to Brenda Drake’s website for all the details about submission. You can also check out the amazing agent list, plus all the terrific mentors waiting to dive in and support your work!

Contests are about the relationships, and I can’t wait to get to know you!

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MY WRITING PROCESS Blog Tour!

Hey! It's the My Writing Process Blog Tour, and I'm on it. Check out #MyWritingProcess on Twitter to hear from a variety of writers about how they survive - and even enjoy! -  this process.

So, first of all, many thanks to the Middle Grade Mafioso himself, Michael Gettel-Gilmartin, for tagging me in this My Writing Process blog tour. Michael has got to be the nicest mafioso in history. I’ve gotten to know him over at Project Mayhem, and if you’re not following him on Twitter, I have nothing more to say to you. (Except go follow him, and then come back here and read my blog post.)

What Am I Working On?

I am working on a YA contemporary novel that (I hope) will be comparable to HOLD STILL by Nina LaCour and BOY TOY by Barry Lyga. It’s something I’ve worked on sloooowly, in between middle grade projects over the last few years, and have now committed to buckling down and finishing, once and for all. It’s dark, and personal, and not nearly as much fun to write as my MG projects. But I’ve decided now is the time to finish or set it aside for good (but I’m committed to finishing).

Why Do I Write What I Write?

Although I am working on a YA, I consider myself a middle grade writer. I write MG because no one loves a book like a kid loves a book. Because the vast majority of avid adult readers I know can trace their love of reading back to HARRIET THE SPY or MATILDA or THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA or [INSERT YOUR CHILDHOOD BOOK OBSESSION HERE]. I love the idea of hooking in readers for life. I also love the hope inherent in middle grade. It’s a time of so much change and so much possibility and I love the idea of walking with kids through that period of their lives.

As for why I’m writing a YA, that’s a story I have to tell. It’s the story I wish I’d been able to read as a teen and I hope might be a lifeline to someone who needs it now.

How does my work differ from others of its genre?

Hmm. The only way I can think to answer this is to say that I’m the only one who can tell the stories I tell. Even when I tell stories that rely heavily on research or imagination, they still include huge parts of me—and my kids. I don’t even think I write in one genre—unless there’s a genre of books with strong influences from California, Seattle, Chicago, and Guatemala, with characters that are often some combination of biracial, dyslexic, homeschooled, and grappling with some painful childhood history, and often include elements of theater, cross-cultural experiences, and strong love of/aversion to books.

How does my writing process work?

Once I’ve got a seed of an idea, I usually do a fair bit of letting it develop in my brain before I ever write any actual words. When I’m ready, I do some prewriting work. Mostly jotting down everything that’s been simmering in my head, working on character development stuff, clarifying stakes. I like these posts on character development and plot development by the brilliant Robin LaFevers. Then I write an outline, not for the whole book, but that will get me through about 50 pages. Once I’ve written everything in the outline, I outline some more, basically just for as far ahead as I can see. I find that having some outline helps me draft quickly, and getting more writing done helps me clarify what needs to happen next in the outline.

When I’m drafting, I plow forward. I rarely go back and reread. If something happens in chapter nine that makes me realize something major has to change in chapter three, I don’t go back and make that change. I make a margin note of the necessary change and keep moving forward. When I’ve got a draft, I’ve got a whole list of things I already know need revising. So I work on revisions until I feel like it’s solid enough to show critique partners. I do a few rounds of revisions following CP feedback. Finally, I do several polishing passes, including ones where I print out a hard copy, where I read on the Kindle, and where I read aloud, which all catch different errors and flow issues.

The final step in my writing process is this: Once submissions have begun on one manuscript, I immediately start the next one.

Next Monday, I’m very excited for you to meet some awesome writer friends of mine and hear about their writing processes.

First up, Sharon Roat has been a valued critique partner of mine for several years. Sharon grew up in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, and now lives in Delaware with her husband and two children where she writes books for children and young adults. She worked in public relations for 20 years before deciding what she really wanted to be when she grew up. Her contemporary YA novel BETWEEN THE NOTES will be published by HarperTeen in 2015; she is represented by Steven Chudney. Visit her online at www.sharonroat.com or on Twitter @sharonwrote.

Next, Laura Shovan was my pick in PitchWars last fall, because her gorgeous middle grade verse novel THE LAST FIFTH GRADE OF EMERSON ELEMENTARY blew me away. Apparently, it blew Stephen Barbara away too, because she just signed with him! Laura is poetry editor for Little Patuxent Review. Her chapbook, Mountain, Log, Salt and Stone, won the Harriss Poetry Prize. Laura was a finalist for the 2012 Rita Dove Poetry Award and was a 2013 Gettysburg Review Conference scholarship recipient. Laura is a Maryland State Arts Council Artist-in-Residence. You can find her on Twitter @LauraShovan and online at http://authoramok.blogspot.com/

Finally, Darian Lindle is a fellow Seattle playwright turned novelist. She is a graduate of Indiana University with a degree in Theatre, French, and Film Studies and interned with Cahiers du Cinéma in Paris, the Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago, and the Seattle Repertory Theatre. Her stage adaptation of The Westing Game was published by Dramatic Publishing in 2010 and has since been performed at middle schools and high schools around the country. Next up, her sci-fi/steampunk play SILON will be produced by Live Girls Theater. Darian will soon begin her querying journey for a paranormal romance. You can find her on Twitter @dlindle and online at http://darianlindle.com/journal.html

Be sure to check out each of their homes on the web next Monday to hear all about their writing processes!

How I Got My (First) Agent

[UPDATE 12/14/15: This agent is not my agent anymore. I debated deleting this post entirely. But signing with her and the time I spent with her is still an important part of my journey. It's a journey, folks.]

First I wrote plays for fifteen years. In this time, I amassed over 400 rejections, but I also learned writing discipline, how to take feedback and revise, how to research and track submission opportunities, and how to handle those rejections with a modicum of grace. Usually.

So when I transitioned into writing middle grade fiction, my first manuscript was not an unpolished mess.  It was also not publishable, and I understand why now, but I’d gotten feedback, and revised and polished, and researched agents, and written a good query letter. And I got four full requests, which isn’t shabby, but they all came back rejections (or didn’t come back at all).

So I wrote Manuscript #2. I’ve always started writing the next novel (or play) as soon as I start querying one. And the second one was better. I also got terrific critique partners during the writing of this one. Again I got four full requests. Three of those turned into rejections, one was a revise & resubmit from a fantastic agent. I worked hard on that revision, but ultimately it turned into a rejection.

I wrote Manuscript #3. My critique partners went NUTS. This was going to be it. I got 14 full requests, so I went a little nuts too. And…the rejections started rolling in. Never with feedback I could use to improve the manuscript—generally with feedback like, “It’s not right for me, but someone else is going to love it.” This manuscript also made the long list for the Times of London/Chicken House International Prize for Children’s Fiction, which was super exciting. But it didn’t progress beyond that.

I wrote Manuscript #4. This was quieter. I did not expect much agent response. But again, I got 14 full requests. These almost all came back rejections too. Generally along these lines: “This is really beautiful…but it’s too quiet to debut.” I had a phone call with one agent who requested a revision, which I did. Got amazing green lights from my critique partners before sending the revision off…and it got rejected. BUT this manuscript is currently on the long list for the Chicken House prize. Hope lives for Manuscript #4!

I wrote Manuscript #5. This one was a quiet contemporary story based on a real friendship I had in elementary school. I was sure it wouldn’t make any huge splash, but I didn’t seem to be able to win no matter what I wrote, so I was going to write what I wanted to write and damn the torpedoes. (Not that I’m calling agents torpedoes. But you know.) But I got eleven requests! And…then they started coming back as rejections. Mostly sounding something like this: “I like this…but I don’t love it.” Or even, “I love this…but I don’t love it enough.” And also, “This is kind of slow.”

I wrote Manuscript #6. It was very different. And critique partners were very enthusiastic. I was trying NOT to get excited because, well, see above. I was in a final round of polishing, about a week away from starting to query AGAIN when I got an agent email.

It was an overdue rejection for Manuscript #3. Then, five minutes later, another agent email appeared and I sighed. Here we go again, two in one day, terrific. Except…it said “I loved this! I couldn’t put it down!” It was for Manuscript #5, the school friendship story other agents had said was slow.

It was also from a crazy-amazing agent. You guys, I just can’t even. An agent who had been in my very first batch of queries for every single manuscript.

BUT she hadn’t said it was an offer in her email, and because of my previous agent phone call letdown, I was NOT GOING TO GET MY HOPES UP. (Except I totally did.)

So we had a phone call almost a week later because of scheduling issues. She offered (pause for kitchen happy dance), I nudged the other agents with materials despite deep temptation to accept the offer on the spot, but ultimately signed with my first agent.

I want to encourage anyone still on the querying road. Keep writing, keep querying, you WILL find the agent who is your perfect match [for that stretch of your journey]. Eventually. In the meantime, eat chocolate and write some more.

Okay, now for the numbers:

Queries sent (for the manuscript I got the offer on): 54

Requests: 11

Rejections on fulls before the offer: 6

Time from query to full request – 1 day 

Time from full request to offer – five months

Queries sent for ALL middle grade manuscripts: 290

Full requests: 47

Total Time in the Query Trenches: 3 years

Pitch Wars - Meet Team JOY

I have a confession to make: I didn’t think anyone would want me for a mentor.

So when I opened my PitchWars folder to 65 submissions, I was FLOORED. So completely honored by your trust, astonished by the quality, and so daunted by the task of picking just three.

I’ve gotten so much out of doing this so far, but the biggest thing I’ve gotten is a vastly greater understanding of how agents have to ABSOLUTELY FALL IN LOVE with something to sign it. There were so many things that were completely solid—very good, even—that I passed up without even hesitating.

Early on in my query reading, I read two that just absolutely grabbed onto me and wouldn’t let go. After those two, it got much easier to wade through my inbox. Because while there were many—SO MANY—submissions that were great, if they didn’t grab me more than those first two, they got moved out.

I’ll try to do another post on observations from the inbox in a few days, but first I want to tell you about Team JOY – I am so excited about these three manuscripts and their fantastic writers, who I am so excited to get to know!

Of those first two queries that stood out so strongly above the rest, one went to another mentor (because I can’t hog ALL the awesome), and one was my top pick, Laura Shovan’s THE LAST FIFTH GRADE OF EMERSON ELEMENTARY. I’m honestly a little nervous about “mentoring” this gorgeous contemporary verse novel, because what’s a lot more likely to happen is Laura’s going to give me a master class in poetry. I just hope I can share a useful tidbit or two about middle grade and/or the agent game before Laura shares this baby with the world. It’s so crazy-gorgeous, you guys. You’re going to love it.

One of my alternates actually didn’t catch my eye at first. The query didn’t grab me, mostly because superheroes aren’t really my thing, and I set it aside. But then one of the other mentors started championing it, and I went back and took a closer look. And boy did I feel ridiculous for having missed the fantastic voice in the pages of THE RISE AND FALL OF A HALLWAY SUPERHERO by Davy Degreeff. (Pages trump queries, always!) From the first pages, I completely trusted Davy to take me on an awesome ride—and make me fall in love with superheroes.

My other alternate is an excellent example of how you never know when something will strike an agent or an editor, even if they didn’t seem like they were looking for what you’ve got. I’m really not into creepy. I’ve never seen a horror movie. I won’t even go on the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland. But Lyudmyla Mayorska’s NANNY MORTO would not get out of my head after I read the first pages. She calls it Mary Poppins meets The Graveyard Book, and that’s SUCH a perfect description. 

So overall, my top pick wasn’t a surprise. That I would go for something a little bit quieter, a contemporary verse novel with rich, gorgeous language, probably could have been foretold from my bio/wishlist. But that I would go for superhero + creepy to round out my team? Completely unforeseen. But I’m so excited to work with Laura, Davy, and Lyuda and grateful that they’ve trusted me with their awesome manuscripts!

Please know that just because I didn’t choose you doesn’t mean you weren’t good enough. It just means this wasn’t the opportunity for you. (Or it was—and another mentor fought for you!) There will be more opportunities. In the meantime—keep writing!

I hope you’ll cheer my awesome writers on.  Go Team JOY! 

Pitch Wars - PICK ME, PICK ME!!!

Pitch Wars writers! Hey, thanks for coming by! I’m thrilled to be a middle grade Pitch Wars mentor for the first time. I’ve been mentoring writers for about fifteen years, and I’m really excited about coming alongside one of you and helping you make your manuscript better than you ever dreamed.

This is how much I want your application—I’m going to do a query critique for everyone who applies to me.  

About Me:

I have a degree in theater from Northwestern University, where I focused on playwriting. Then I spent fifteen years writing plays (and submitting them and learning about rejection and self-promotion and discipline and feedback, etc. etc.). I also spent most of that time in classroom arts residencies, helping kids find their voice through writing. I make my living as a freelance ghostwriter (mostly writing middle grade fiction) and editor (mostly of fiction, but sometimes non-fiction, too). I started writing middle grade about four years ago. Earlier this year, I made the longlist for the Chicken House/Times of London International Prize for Children’s Fiction. I blog at Project Mayhem and I work as an assistant to a NYT bestselling middle grade author.

You can find more about me HERE and HERE and HERE. 

I still write plays, though my focus is middle grade these days. I live in the Seattle area with two amazing homeschooled kids and my incredibly awesome husband who I met when traveling through Guatemala for a year. I’m kind of a hermit, never happier than when I’m home reading and writing. And eating chocolate.

About You:

I want to work with someone who’s open to feedback, passionate about writing middle grade, willing to tear their novel apart as needed, and willing to keep trying no matter how many times they’re knocked down. I’ve been knocked down a lot. My getting-back-up muscles are incredibly buff. (They are, full disclosure, my only buff muscles.) I will help you get back up.

What I’m Looking for:

ALL THE MIDDLE GRADE!!!!

I don’t want to rule anything out completely – a couple years ago, I probably would have said, “No zombies.” But then I read Zombie Tag by Hannah Moscowitz, which is all kinds of awesome. So really, I’m open to anything that’s fantastically written. But to give you the best idea of my tastes, I’ve listed a bunch of middle grade books I LOVE. 

I’m limiting this list to the non-obvious, because Rowling, Cleary, Dahl, White, etc. - please.

But here are a few less obvious but still amazing books on my favorites list:

The Penderwicks series by Jeanne Birdsall

Splendors & Glooms AND A Drowned Maiden’s Hair by Laura Amy Schlitz

Clementine by Sara Pennypacker

Wonder by RJ Palacio

The Book of Wonders by Jasmine Richards
His Dark Materials by Phillip Pullman

The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo (also Flora & Ulysses and Winn-Dixie)

Emma Jean Lazarus Fell Out of a Tree by Lauren Tarshish

Walk Two Moons AND The Unfinished Angel by Sharon Creech

The Winnie Years series by Lauren Myracle

Better Nate Than Ever by Tim Federle

The Underland Chronicles by Suzanne Collins

May B by Caroline Starr Rose

Inside Out and Back Again by Thanhha Lai

When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead
The Boy in the Dress by David Walliams

And if I can place a special request—do you have a manuscript you think might be too literary or quiet to stand out in a contest? I’ve got a special place in my heart for you. (But send me your rollicking adventures, too—I really love all things middle grade!)

So, What Next?

On November 25^th, go to Brenda Drake’s blog for all the details about submission.

But for now, go ahead and salivate over this super amazing agent list:

Louise Fury – Bent Agency 

Suzie Townsend – New Leaf Literary 

Nicole Resciniti - The Seymour Agency  

John M. Cusick – The Greenhouse Agency   

Sarah LaPolla – Bradford Literary Agency   

Victoria Marini - Gelfman Schneider Literary Agency   

Jessica Sinsheimer - Sarah Jane Freymann Literary Agency 

Pam van Hylckama Vlieg - Foreword Literary

Quinlan Lee - Adams Literary

Jen Udden – Donald Maass Agency

Emily Keyes – Foreword Literary

Brianne Johnson – Writers House

Carly Watters – P.S. Literary

Molly Jaffa – Folio Literary Management

Evan Gregory - Ethan Ellenberg Literary Agency

Stefanie Lieberman - Janklow & Nesbit Associates

Rena Rossner - The Deborah Harris Agency

Lana Popovic and Natasha Alexis - Zachary Shuster Harmsworth

And, okay, I’m not the only mentor in this thing. (But send me ALL THE MIDDLE GRADE!) Check out the amazing array of mentors Brenda has gathered – read up and find the best fit for you!

(Oh, and p.s., don't tell anyone, but the SECRET LETTER is R. Like Ron Weasley. Or Roald Dahl. Or Reepicheep. Or Ramona Quimby. You get the idea. Good luck!)

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On Holding Out Hope

Remember when I said this blog would be about writing middle grade books, except when it isn’t? We shall now diverge into talk of the theatre (do you notice the fancy –re spelling? That’s how we theatre folks spell it.)

So, I wrote this play a million years ago. Well, twelve years. Just before my brand new husband and I moved our lives to Seattle, I wrote the first draft of the play of my heart. It wasn’t my first play—it was something like my fourth. But it was most definitely my beating heart on paper.

My playwriting mentor—who has won the Tony Award for Best New Play and multiple Academy Award nominations for Best Screenplay, so he’s no dummy in such matters—raved about the play. It was going to be my breakthrough, he said.

We moved to Seattle, full of high hopes for my place in the theater world here (see how I switched out of the –re spelling? I do that because I do the –re spelling automatically, but part of me thinks it’s pretentious, so then I mix it up). I kept working on the play, and a year or two into our life here, I was invited to submit a play to FringeACT, which is now-defunct, but was an incredible new play development program that gave me a chance to workshop the play with some amazeballs people.

I thought this was it. I thought it really was my breakthrough. I started teaching playwriting for one of Seattle’s major regional theaters. I even got invited in for a meeting with the theater’s artistic director, who spoke to me warmly and with great interest about my plays.

But … the workshop didn’t lead anywhere, except to a revision of the play. I continued to work on the play, as well as write more plays. After a couple more years, I finally got my first full production in Seattle (or anywhere, since the full production of my very first play, which was produced by Northwestern University during my sophomore year there). Live Girls, which is a tiny but HUGELY AWESOME theater devoted to new plays by women, produced my play Mud Angel. (Thanks, Live Girls!)

And then … I continued to write. And rack up rejections. I used to spend vast amounts of money on copies and postage, sending my scripts all over the country, and even the world. I’ve got over 400 rejections to my name (just as a playwright). No more full productions came my way. Lots of compliments on my beautiful plays. Lots of staged readings and some great workshops (for which I’m grateful, but they’re not the same as production).

After a few years, I pulled out Blood/Water/Paint—that’s the play of my heart. The one that was going to be my breakthrough. I did another major revision. I called super amazing actor people and had them come to my house to read the play aloud. They gave me great feedback. I revised again. I sent the play out. And nothing.

Around that time, I started writing fiction. It wasn’t a conscious decision that I was going to write books instead of plays. It was mostly that my daughter was three and OBSESSED with books, and I spent (seriously) an average of five hours a day reading aloud to her. We were reading the Chronicles of Narnia and the Wizard of Oz books, Mary Poppins and Charlotte’s Web.  So fiction just sort of became the way story formed in my head.

I’ve been focused on fiction for almost four years now. Aside from participating in Seattle’s awesome 14/48 festival a few times, I really haven’t given theater much thought.

And then I got an email a couple months ago. Meghan Arnette, the Artistic Director of the aforementioned insanely awesome theater company Live Girls, wanted to include Blood/Water/Paint in a reading series. Part of me was a little annoyed. Were we really going to dredge this play up, only to read it, and stir up my emotions, except that nothing would happen with it, because nothing ever does?

And then I met the director for the reading. I’d never worked with her before. She’d said very little in our email exchanges before meeting and I had no idea what she thought of the play. (It deals with some tough stuff, you guys, and I was a little worried.) And then I met her. And she is a FORCE OF NATURE. Her passion for the play was inspiring, but still I held back. The rehearsal process for the reading was the best I’d ever had, but still I held back. The reading happened, and the talkback was amazing, and I started to hope.

Just a tiny little bit.

And now, you know what? Twelve years after I started writing it? Fifteen years after I embarked on the whole I’m-going-to-be-a-playwright thing? Live Girls Theater is going to produce Blood/Water/Paint in 2014, with Amy Poisson directing.

So I guess I’m still a playwright.

And those novels I loved that came extremely close to getting me amazing agents, but then didn’t? I guess I won’t give up on them, either.

(Update: Now it's going to be 2015. But there's an amazing team in place and it's definitely happening)