Friday, January 13, 2012

My BIG News (Don Vito's "Over the Moon")

We've been very European here at Middle Grade Mafioso, and taken a nice long holiday break. But the grass hasn't been growing under our feet, because...

The Middle Grade Mafioso has an agent.


You heard that right. On January 9th, Stephen Fraser of the Jennifer DeChiara Literary Agency offered to represent me and my middle grade time travel novel, Shakespeare on the Lam.

We had a tremendous conversation, in which he said wonderful things about the novel and asked me about my writing goals.

The Don's cry of Mamma Mia! is still ringing in my ears. He's even talking about awarding me the Order of the Eggplant, and giving me a year's supply of panettone.

It all seems a little unreal.

Here I am, signing the agency agreement:


(Notice all the giants of children's literature by my side?)

I want to thank you all for your support on this journey. You have read, commented, and cheered me on. I am so grateful for your friendship.

I'll leave you with a picture of the littlest author. (My 5-year old, who lamented that no one wanted to buy his painstakingly illustrated books--for $14, no less. His 8-year-old brother kindly agreed to be his agent.)

Holding the manuscript of the next generation

Now the Don says I have to get back to work. We've got a FANTASTICALLY Marvelous Middle Grade Monday event for the 16th, when I'll be kicking off a blog tour for the crazily good novel, Promise The Night, and interviewing the author, Michaela MacColl. Plus, the publisher's giving you the chance to win a copy of the novel. Be here, or be square!!


19 comments:

  1. If I needed an agent, I would definitely pick one who wore a bow tie! Excellent! Best of luck, always.

    ReplyDelete
  2. That's such awesome news. I'm so excited for you!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Congratulations, Michael! What exciting news!

    ReplyDelete
  4. YAY!!!!! (And I can't have enough exclamation points behind that). Celebrating with you and looking forward to Monday!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Fantastic, Michael!!!! Congrats!!!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Yay! I've met Stephen (at a conference) and he is fantastic! Good luck to you!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Woo hoo!!! How will you celebrate? Tell us! And tell your son you're never too young to be an author. I'd buy his book!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Wow, congrats! Great agent at a great agency!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Congratulations! Great news. Tell the 5 yo to be wary of older brothers acting as agents and he may want go outside the sibling circle, perhaps a second cousin or something.
    Happy writing!

    ReplyDelete
  10. CONGRATS, MICHAEL!! That's terrific! Stephen's a super nice guy. You're in good hands.

    Your son's adorable. And a writer too! Cool.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Congrats!! That's wonderful.

    My son tries to sell his books to his 2nd grade class and busmates as well. Actually he takes preorders, but I've yet to see the book come out of it.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Oh my GOSH!!! Congratulations Michael. That is some great news!!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Hooray, Michael!!! This is such fantastic news! I'm so incredibly happy for you and Stephen, and wish you the best on the next exciting trip of your journey. =)

    ReplyDelete
  14. Hi, Michael! Was just introduced to you on Twitter by Amber Keyser. Congratulations!!! Love your pics and the story about your sons, too!! Can't wait to hear about your progress with Stephen!!

    ReplyDelete

Youse got something to say? Well, say it then. (The Don and I will shoot you... a personal reply, that is. But if we can't find your e-mail, we'll just reply in the comment box.)