"Margaret Raymo at Houghton Mifflin Children's Books has made a two-book deal with debut novelist L.K. Madigan. Flash Burnout chronicles a chaotic year for sophomore Blake, who, when he took a picture of a passed-out street person for his photography class, didn't expect to find himself ditching his girlfriend, prowling skid row and tracking down his best friend's long-lost mother. Flash Burnout will pub in fall 2009; the second, as yet untitled novel will come out in 2010. The deal for world rights was made with Jennifer Laughran at Andrea Brown Literary."
Over on her blog,
On the way back from the movie, she told me how grateful she was to have an agent, and that was enough for her, and she wasn't stressed at all about making a sale. It was all very Zen. And less than 18 hours later she got "the call."
And while that's probably not how it works (look at all the poor folks who try to get pregnant and are just told to "relax"), still the timing was really interesting.
[Note to self: must be more Zen!]