Welcome to My Official Web Page!

Welcome to My Official Web Page!

Sunday, January 22, 2012

The BIG News




It's beyond surreal to finally be writing this post.

I have an agent!!!

*breaks into an Egyptian happy dance*

And not just any agent!


An amazing agent who says my book about Theodora reminds her of her trip to Turkey. And she's been to Egypt and knows all about Hatshepsut. She loves history and is interested in my other books.

I am thrilled to announce I am now represented by Marlene Stringer of the Stringer Literary Agency!

Woohoo!


I don't have a picture of me signing the paperwork, but how many people can say they emailed their acceptance of an agent's offer while waiting for the Toy Story ride in Disneyland?

Me!

There's more to that story, but I'll save the "How I Got My Agent" story for another post later this week.

Suffice to say, there's going to be an epic celebration contest next week!

HURRAY!

Thursday, January 12, 2012

I'm Going to Disneyland!

Most adults look at me like I'm crazy when I admit that I love Disneyland. Like I-would-go-there-ten-times-a-year-if-I-could love.

But there's long lines.

And crying kids.

And it's so expensive.


All true, but I don't care one whit. Disneyland isn't called The Happiest Place on Earth for nothing. I know if I'm going to spend a day at Disneyland it's going to be a blast and there are parts of the day I'm going to remember forever.

(I could make this into a metaphor about how a good book is similar, but I'm not going to because I'm supposed to be packing.)

I'm going to Disneyland.

And I'm going to ride the Teacups.

And Splash Mountain.

And eat too many churros with my husband and five-year-old monkey.

And that makes me happy. Very, very happy.

Sunday, January 8, 2012

The Secret History

I had no idea the title of my novel on Theodora, The Secret History, would be the source of controversy. I actually borrowed the title from Procopius, the premier historian of the Byzantine Empire, who wrote several official accounts of the reign of Justinian and Theodora.

The Buildings.

The Wars.

Then he wrote The Secret History, a scathing account of Justinian and Theodora's years on the throne in which both Emperor and Empress are literally portrayed as demons. However, this is the historical source with the most details on Theodora's life, both before and after she wore the crown. Procopius does an admirable job portraying her as a conniving, scheming harlot.

Why must women with a brain almost always be portrayed as evil by their contemporaries? Can't conniving and scheming be a good thing? And was she really a harlot because she liked to be?

I decided my novel should also be titled The Secret History, mostly because I like to think my version of Theodora's motivations is closer to the truth than Procopius'.

(And yes, I realize that's more than a little presumptuous of me. Whatever.)

Those early readers who are familiar with Procopius love the title. Those who don't are quick to point out that Donna Tartt wrote a recent novel with the same title about six classics students at an elite Vermont college.

I'm not willing to part with the title though, at least not yet. It's my way of biting my thumb at Procopius. (I might have taken a stab or two at him in the book too. Ha!)

Any suggestions for my title quandary? Have you ever had title issues?

Sunday, January 1, 2012

Not Writing is Weird

I spent 14 months writing, revising, and editing my last book, researching as I went along.

What am I doing now?

Nothing.

Well, not nothing, but no writing. No revising. No editing.

I'm researching.

It's weird to finally be free of a daily word count, but I love it. I'm knee-deep in the history of an era I know virtually nothing about, and I plan to just go deeper.

Seriously, what's better than the life of a writer?

So tell me, where are you this New Year's Day? Researching, drafting, writing, revising?

Regardless of where you are, good luck in 2012!