I'm Not Dead!

The good news is... I'm not dead! Yes, it's been nearly two years (really?! GULP!) since I posted to my blog, but I have some really good excuses. Pick one of the following:
a) a new baby
b) a new house
c) a book deal, complete with three rounds of revisions
d) all of the above.

You guessed it - d! So see? Busy, busy!

The new baby - a wonderful Baby Boy, now nine months old. Crawling, into everything - an absolute and total joy.

The new house - love it! In the country, wild turkeys wandering about - just lovely.

The book deal - omg! My middle grade historical fiction novel, Autumn Winifred Oliver Does Things Different, is due out in Fall 2008 from Delacorte Press. Since most of you who visit this site are my writing buds, I'll expand more on this one.

The scene: Early February, 2007. My editor, Wendy Loggia, calls my cell phone. I am nine months pregnant. I am AT THE OB/GYN.

Wendy: "Hello, Kristin? It's Wendy Loggia from Random House."

Me: "Oh my gosh! It's so good to hear from you! I'm at my gynocologist's office right now."

Wendy: silence

Me: "Oh, um - I should say, I'm not in the office right now - I mean, I am, but I'm checking out. I'm done." Shut up Kristin. "I mean - I'm scheduling my induction for my new baby. I was newly pregnant when we met, remember?" Shut UP, Kristin. "Everything's great! Healthy baby! I'm scheduling his arrival right now. That's why I'm at...my...OB's office..."

Wendy: laughing "I think this is a first for me."

Me: unbelievably mortified "Uh, me too?"

Wendy: "So I wanted to talk to you more about this wonderful story you sent me..."

And that was that! There, in my OB/GYN's office, I was offered my first book deal. Two weeks later, my son was born. It was one heckuva month.

I'm playing catch up in every aspect of my life, but I'll post more often now. I promise. Because I'm not dead. Just busy. :-)