A guest post by Courtney C. Stevens (2.)

September 25, 2012

The following is a second guest post from author, Courtney C. Stevens. She posted it on her blog at quartland.blogspot.com on August 10, 2012 after HarperCollins (HarperTeen) officially announced the sale of her debut novel - Faking Normal - in Publishers Weekly.

 

My Name on a Spine

Words that I will never forget: "Courtney, I have an early birthday gift for you."

My agent called on Wednesday, June 13th to tell me that HarperCollins (Harper Teen) offered a contract on Faking Normal, my debut novel. My agent and new editor spent the next two days doing what Agents and Editors do and we accepted on Friday, June 15th, my 33rd birthday.

Here are my thoughts:

1) My book gets to be a book.

2) Can I keep my mom quiet until they release this officially? (Not completely.) But I can't blame her. She's been such a great partner to me. If you only knew how bad my grammar was (and sometimes still is) when we started five years ago, you would give the woman three gold stars.

3) I have the best agent and editor in the world. I am so blessed by the professionals in my life. I pray every writer with dreams in their heart has a day when they are paired with the perfect person.

4) My critique partners have their fingerprints all over this manuscript. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

5) Did I really start this entire process (on Faking Normal) August 8th of 2011? (Yes- even though it doesn't seem possible. Oh, what a year!)

6) My accountability group believed in me much more than I believed in myself. Thank you to them for BELIEVING BIG and doing the dance (They know which one).

7) In the season when my husband and I needed encouragement the most- God delivers. Perfect timing.

There's so much more to say, and I'm sure I'll find the words over time, but for now, here is the release from PW.

http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/book-news/deals/article/52702-deals-week-of-june-25-2012.html