Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Changing My Name In These Good News Times

A post to honor the following AMAZING WRITERS:

Shannon Messenger
Lydia Kang
Shannon O'Donnell



Have you ever changed your name? I have. I came into this world as Michael Gilmartin, but just before our second child was born we went to the courthouse and merged into the Gettel-Gilmartins. 'Course, we had to pay some bucks for the privilege, and the judge wanted to know why we were doing it. The answer: to bring on the apocalypse by causing computers to flip out over a hyphen.

I'm thinking of changing my name again, to honor three amazing writers I've gotten to know during my brief blogging life. It seems as if I've known the Shannons forever--and I met Lydia during the Pay-It-Forward blogfest. These three stars have turned October into a month-long good news fiesta.

First there was:


October 12, 2011
Children's:
Fantasy
Shannon Messenger's debut middle-grade series KEEPER OF THE LOST CITIES, about a girl who discovers there are secrets buried in her memory that others would kill for, and has to figure out why she is the key to her brand-new world before the wrong person finds the answer first, to Liesa Abrams at Aladdin, in a six-figure deal, in a pre-empt, in a three-book deal, for publication starting in Fall 2012, by Laura Rennert at Andrea Brown Literary Agency (North America).
ljrennert@mac.com



Then, on October 15 there was:

The announcement by Shannon O'Donnell

GOD. IS. GOOD!

For three weeks I have been sitting on a secret . . . THE secret. It's been hard. This morning, I signed the contract.

And that means I can finally say

I HAVE AN AGENT!!!!!!!!!
(Just to be clear: this is Shannon's announcement, not mine)


Terrie Wolf, of AKA Literary LLC


Finally, there was this:


October 20, 2011
Children's:
Young Adult
Lydia Kang's THE FOUNTAIN, about a 17-year-old, who must rescue her kidnapped sister with the help of a band of outcasts with mutated genes, set in 2150 when genetic manipulation has been outlawed, to Kathy Dawson at Dial, in a good deal, in a pre-empt, for publication in 2013, by Eric Myers at The Spieler Agency (World).

Wouldn't it be great if some of their good fortune rubbed off on me?
From now on, please address me as

Shannon Lydia O'Gettel-Gilmartin

10 comments:

  1. I change my name whenever it suits me. So far that's only been once.

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  2. I've never changed my name officially but I have about eight different identities online.

    Congratulations on the agent!

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  3. Thanks for shouting out about all the awesome news. I'm so excited for them all. And I was sitting on Shannon O'Donnell's news too.

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  4. Um, okay.
    Having changed my last name from Donovan to Wixted, I don't recommend choosing a new name that's harder to spell than the old one.
    Just fyi.

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  5. Congratulations, Michael! What fantastic news! I'm really happy for you!!

    Sylvia

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  6. I am finding it amusing that even though you said "this is Shannon's announcement, not mine," all some people read was "I HAVE AN AGENT!!!"

    How I wish it were that easy!

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  7. Hmmmm . . . I like it! It has a nice ring to it. Thanks for the shout-outs Shannon #3! :-)

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  8. yo... shannon! how crazy is that we are both going for the name change. yep....just call me shannon, too. heh heh.

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  9. You think your hyphen is confusing, try not using a hyphen! I added my maiden name, Ricard, to my byline to honor my dad. Boy, do people get confused!

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  10. I was so excited when I first heard the news! I am hoping for some of the good fortune to make its way further around the blogosphere.
    Nice feature, Michael.

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