Etc.

I’m today’s interview subject on Cynthia Leitich Smith’s absolutely fantastic blog, Cynsations. Please check it out. What a wonderful early birthday present.

Last week I hinted on Twitter and Facebook that I have big news to share. A lot of clients, personal friends, colleagues and people who I’ve talked to at conferences already know this, as it has been in the works for a while, but now I want to make it official on the blog:

In July, I’m moving to Brooklyn to open up an East Coast office of the Andrea Brown Literary Agency!

Today is a fitting day for this announcement, as it finishes up my last week of classes for my MFA degree. (I’ll turn in my thesis over the summer, which I can do from anywhere, and then I’m done!) I’m typing up all my loose ends and getting ready for the big move.

Since not everyone knows how ABLit works, let me break it down. Our agency has a central office in the San Francisco Bay Area but we all work independently. That allows us to dedicate ourselves and all our attention to our clients. No daily office grind, no “big, imposing agency” vibe. Last year, we had an agent in Japan. Right now, one of our agents is in Chicago and three of our agents, a few interns and our subrights co-agent are in Southern California.

But it has been a while since we’ve had a dedicated presence on the East Coast. I’m very excited to be stepping up!

I’m making this move for a number of reasons, some personal, some career. I feel like it’s the right time for me to dive into NYC and immerse myself in the publishing scene. I’d love to make strong bonds, lasting relationships and more friends in the industry. It’ll be great to represent ABLit in New York and it’ll also be a fantastic asset for my clients. Finally, my boyfriend and I have been doing the cross-country long distance thing for a year and it’s time for me to finally join him.

I love being so close to Andrea and my Bay Area colleagues. They have been around the corner (some of them literally!) ever since I first started reading for ABLit two years ago and I have learned so much from being so close. I can’t imagine where I’d be without every single one of them. They are truly fantastic, inspiring and wise. I’ll miss them, my friends and my family — as well as my beautiful home city of San Francisco — so much, but this is the time for me to take my show on the road. I will still fly back all the time for meetings, family, friends, and the Big Sur conferences, which I absolutely adore.

Send a toast and well-wishes my way…I can’t wait to bring you more good news, more posts, more insight and more kidlit as I take this next step in my career!

(Okay, but I am still here in the Bay Area for a few months, so if anybody wants to make that a physical toast-and-well-wishes, you know where to find me!)

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A word about Sushi: Since Sushi has been such a presence on the blog in the last few weeks, I can now say that this is why her recent illness was so stressful. As I keep an eye on her, I need to know that her health is good enough to survive a taxing move across the country, too. She was always part of my plans in NYC and I hope she stays that way. All signs point to “yes” so far. Thank you for all your continued Sushi love!

Tennessee auction update: Where do I begin? My full manuscript auction ended last night, with a highest bid of $2,800. Demand for this item was so high that I offered a full manuscript critique and phone call to the top 5 highest bidders, at the lowest bid amount of the 5 ($2,125). If all 5 highest bidders want to participate, that means my item will raise over $10,000 for Tennessee flood relief. I am floored and more than happy to do the extra critiques. I immediately got on the phone with Victoria, one of the auction organizers, last night and we just kept going in circles of “Dude…” and “Thank you”/”No, thank you!” I really hope I can swing a trip to Nashville sometime this summer to meet the organizers. Mandy, Victoria and Myra are heroes. They are doing so much good, and I’m honored to be a part of that. Congratulations to the winners! I can’t wait to read your manuscripts!

Bizarre post title, right? I don’t often get personal on the blog (there are many more exciting, writing-related things to talk about!) but I could really use some cheering up this morning. Almost exactly a week ago, my cat Sushi (whose name I love to insert into popular lyrics, as you can see, above) got sick with an infection and stopped eating. She’s an older kitty — maybe 14, though I don’t know for sure because I adopted her — and some health problems are par for the course, but she got sick so suddenly that I’m really having a hard time coming to grips with it. I’m just not ready to lose her, less than a year after I lost my other kitty, Smokey.

She’s been to the vet and has quite a collection of medicines that I’m hoping will make her comfortable and heal her right up, but I don’t know if it’s looking good. She still hasn’t eaten on her own and the longer that lasts, the less chance of recovery. In lieu of a blog post today — I doubt I’d have anything intelligent to say, as my thoughts are elsewhere — I want to ask for some good energy and some well-wishes for my beloved Sushi, seen here.