Three seasoned agents, Laurie McLean, Gordon Warnock and Pam van Hylckama Vlieg, have partnered together to launch a new agency called “Foreword Literary.”
On submissions, the agents represent writers who specialize in a plethora of different genres from children’s picture books to upmarket commercial fiction. This agency’s current client list includes young-adult author Julie Kagawa, thriller novelist Ransom Stephens and romance writer Lisa Kessler.
Here’s more about the agency’s blog: “We are a brand new type of author representative. Sure, we’ll sell books to publishers and sell subsidiary rights to movie studios, foreign publishers, magazines, audiobook companies, etc. But we’ll also work with a network of affiliates such as self-publishers, cover designers, app creators, web series developers, comic book producers, social media marketers, publicity experts, teachers, game designers, speaker bureaus, and many, many others to offer our clients a fully-fleshed world of possibilities for their creativity.”
New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.
The most important thing about this day is that it marks my son's twenty-third birthday. He came into the world after thirty-six hours of labor. He had a full head of thick, black hair. He reached for my husband's finger and squeezed it tight. The next day, we drove him to my mother's house in a beat-up Ford Mustang—his hat still on despite the July heat.
There's no accounting for a mother's love. There's no math that will contain it. The baby became a boy became a kid became a man—so bright, so inventive, so funny, so adventuresome, so thoughtful, and with a raft of terrific friends, and with a future that seems (thanks to some recent interviews) so close and within reach, and with a talent for loving.
That boy traveled to Spain with me and my husband, several times, to visit my brother-in-law. We together met characters like an old man named Luis, and like a count who raised Spain's prized fighting bulls. We traveled out to a broad cortijo, watched the gypsies dance, sat front row at flamenco shows. We ate paella at midnight on the streets, tapas in tiny bars. We went in and out of bull rings and up cathedral towers and in between the narrow spaces of Seville. We watched the nuns flutter by. We saw children playing on rooftops. And when I started to write a novel with all of this as the backdrop, this son of mine listened to me read out loud—this passage or that at the kitchen table. He steered the ship with his spare comments and would not let me give up in the face of grave disappointments. He said, "Believe in yourself."
I don't think there would be a
Small Damages without this guy, and that brings us to birthday number two.
Small Damages, a book that has always been dedicated to my son, is being launched today. That it is a book, that it has come this far, is all thanks to the extremely extraordinary Tamra Tuller, Michael Green, Jessica Shoffel, and Jill Santopolo of Philomel. That it has been welcomed into this world is all thanks to the generosity of readers and bloggers and reviewers and interviewers, whose goodness is unfathomable and restorative and redeeming and proof that maybe a girl can write and write and write and not be especially famous, but keep writing, and then have a moment in time like this one.
An unforgettable moment in time.
To all of you, and to my agent Amy Rennert, who has been there through all fourteen books, thick and thin (and so much thin), thank you.
Cake is now being served for all.
The icing is here, in these words from the great (truly great)
Pam van Hylckama of Bookalicious.org and in this kindness from the ever-kind and supportive
Serena Agusto-Cox.
From Pam:
It is not often that a book that makes you lose your breath. You read novel that makes you want t
See, I knew that would get your attention. But it's not me I'm talking about. Cross my heart with a pair of knitting needles (that's for you, Pam).
I'm talking about the
The Chicktionary, the debut book by Anna Lefler, which is arriving in your stores and on your screen this coming week.
The Chicktionary (Adams Media) is a book of terms, 450 or so of them. Terms women use or want to use or don't know they should use, but (if only they were as smart as Anna, or as daring) would. Anna Lefler, comedienne, is our pink-hued lexiconic guide. I got an early look at this (and an inside look at Anna's amazingly disciplined process) throughout the summer and early fall. Anna would send me a definition and I'd find it on my phone. I'd read it to whomever was gathered near. I'd leave the crowd in wet-eyed pieces.
They thought
I was funny. Sniff.
So here's to Anna, and since I teased you up above, I'll give Baby Bump its moment, below. That leaves you with 449 terms or so to find and memorize on your own.
Baby Bump, noun
Also known simply as “bump,” this term refers to a woman’svisible pregnancy bulge. Anextremely common term among tabloid reporters and paparazzi, baby bump is usedmost often in reference to celebrities. Examples of this use include, “Grammy-winner Alicia Keyes showed off herbaby bump in a beaded, Empire-waisted sheath,” and “Paris Hilton’s alleged babybump was revealed to be nothing more than the aftermath of a SuperBurrito.” Although a campaign waslaunched recently to take the focus off of women’s tummies and redirectscrutiny to male celebrities’ midsections, the terms “beer bump” and “bratwurstbump” have yet to catch on.
I have been the recipient of extraordinary kindness. My eyes are full.
These words were said. That's all I can say.
You'll understand.
Congrats to all of you and happy birthday to your son.
Happy birthday to your son! I thought Vance had a head full of dark hair but your son has him beat. Congratulations on your book!!
Such a wonderful post for a wonderful day. Congratulations and Happy Birthday to both you and your son. So so happy for you. And can I just say ditto to everything Pam said? Perfect. Such a great day!
Congratulations! I think that's the most hair I've ever seen on a newborn - wow.
Congratulations, Beth, and Happy Birthday to your gift of a son and the gift of your beautiful book.
This picture of your son takes my breath away. He is just too beautiful.