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

I Cracked The Code!!!

I know, I said I was going to change my blogging schedule for the summer, but today I just can't help myself. It turns out I "cracked the code" over at the simply marvelous The Bookshelf Muse and, hey presto, won myself a prize: a 10-page critique from one of my blogging heroines, Shannon Whitney Messenger.

I just about fainted. What a Father's Day surprise!

(The Bookshelf Muse is an awesome blog. It's like a giant thesaurus. I've used it several times for getting advice on setting, my pet bugaboo. Angela and Becca, the Muses, put in a lot of hard work and have rightly earned the love and adulation of their 2133 followers!!)