i just gotta crow aka how Ellen Goodlett shall now conquer the world

something incredible happened this week. Ms. Ellen Goodlett GOT A PUBLISHING DEAL!

of all the arts, there's nothing i'd rather be than a fiction writer (fine. i'd happily be a pop star if you asked) but of all the arts, none are harder to get recognized in than fiction writing. i'm not saying famous, or even well paid, but simply acknowledged.

an actor might not hit it big, but there's always local theatre as an outlet. worse comes to worse, musicians can busk on the street for exposure. a struggling fine artist can land a group show (or coffee house) that will hang their work. but a writer?

you spend years on a manuscript, have a handful of people read it mostly for the purpose of criticizing it, and then if you're lucky enough to have an agent, you will get told by publishers who you're guessing didn't read past chapter 2, that they simply didn't love it enough. afterwards, your highly revised, barely read creation will simply become another file on your computer and you will begin the entire process again from scratch.

(yes, yes, self-publishing. but what fun are over-arching points if they're not dramatic?)

the idea of actually, for reals getting published? for those who have been rejected once or a thousand times, getting a book picked up is akin to landing yourself on Jimmy Fallon once it happens. there's a slim chance it could be possible, but the likelihood.... (do you see me planting the seed already? Jimmy and I are gonna have a blast playing situational facial gestures together.)

as Ellen famously tells it, she and i met, where else, but over the buffet table at a writers conference. looking back, it was one of the top five best things that happened to me while i was living in NYC. we've been blogging, drinking, cavorting, giggling, snacking, write-in-ing, sending each other manuscripts, query letters, please read this now i have to submit it tomorrow, i need a pep talk emails, ever since.

ain't no party, like a BEA party.

my mom once said that every time i'd talk about Ellen i referred to her as my writer friend, Ellen. 

you know, Mama said. Ellen's also just your friend, Corrie. 

but the designation was meant as a badge of honor. because, though i know this will change with time, Ellen is my only writer friend. why would i need more? she is the first to invite me to events, the first to sign me up for secret Facebook writer groups, the first to agree that we should avoid ghastly writerly networking by hiding in empty back rooms with drinks. the first to arrive at my going away party and the last to leave. (seriously girl, that stuff means a lot. and gawd am i getting nostalgic).

Ellen Goodlett is a fantastic friend and an insanely talented writer, so it is not only long overdue, but with awed excitement, pride, and spine-tingles, that i give you: Ellen's Publishers Marketplace announcement....

Ellen Goodlett's THE QUIET ONES, in which Hawaiian gods guide a narcoleptic teenager as she solves the mystery of her ex-girlfriend's murder - but their help only reinforces that she can't trust anything she knows, including her own innocence, to Jordan Hamessley at Egmont, for publication in Fall 2016, byBridget Smith at Dunham Literary (NA). so three cheers!! my very excellent friend DID IT!  and now let's all watch as she conquers the world. [to read about the inspiring process of getting The Quiet Ones published, visit Ellen here!]