FINALLY--I CAN SHARE MY SECRET NEWS!!!

It's funny. I have dreamed of writing this post, pretty much every day for three years (THREE YEARS!) as I researched and plotted and wrote and revised my book, and revised again, and then revised a million more times. 
And I've drafted this post dozens and dozens of times over the last five months (FIVE MONTHS!) as I've sat silently on the news, waiting for the green light to announce. (hardest secret to keep, EVER!)

But now that the moment is finally here, I've come to realize that some things are so overwhelming and amazing and incredible and surreal, there just aren't the right words—even for a writer.

So I'm going to let this do the announcing for me:


S&S Takes Messenger's Middle-Grade Debut

Keeping up with the high-priced deals, Liesa Abrams, executive editor at Simon & Schuster, took North American rights to three books, in a six-figure pre-empt, by newcomer Shannon Messenger. Laura Rennert at Andrea Brown Literary brokered the deal for the middle-grade fantasy series, and the first book, Keeper of the Lost Cities, is scheduled for fall 2012. In Cities, a 12-year-old girl who can read minds, and is something of a social outcast, discovers the reason she has her abilities when she meets a mysterious boy. Rennert elaborated: "She's never felt at home because she isn't. There are secrets buried deep in her memory, secrets about her true identity and why she was hidden among humans, that others desperately want and would even kill for." Messenger is in her 20s and is one of the founders of the free, online writer's conference, WriteOnCon.


(from Publisher's Weekly. The full link is HERE)
So... yeah. Crazy, awesome, amazing, emotional, almost-impossible-to-wrap-my-head-around news. I thought I'd gotten used to it these last few months but seeing it like that? A real announcement with my name and my book's name? *eyes get misty* I don't even know what to say.

Except this: THANK YOU. For following me on this crazy journey, cheering me on, and supporting me every step of the way. It has been a long, stressful, hectic road (which is really only just beginning--eek!) and I truly, truly believe I wouldn't have made it to this point without you guys.

And now that it's FINALLY out in the open, I have so many things to tell you about--like meeting my amazing editor over the summer and the things I've learned from working on real Edits (yes--I've already gotten them. In fact, I'm done with them!) plus some more details about my book—WHICH I CAN FINALLY TALK ABOUT!!!!

I also have an epic contest planned, which I really think you guys are going to love. So make sure you check back--I will have that up and running as soon as I come out of this shocked/amazed stupor I'm in at the moment. *stares at name in print* *stares some more.*

And ... okay, I have to say it at least once (and then I will TRY to restrain myself);

*clears throat* 
OMG I HAVE A BOOK DEAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!