The Awesome Julia

So most of you would know by now that I was super lucky to have the fabulous Julia Churchill from the Darley Anderson Literary Agency as my agent.

But what you won't know is that . . . she's leaving me!!!!!

Okay, so she's not just leaving me, she's leaving the entire company and that includes many an author, as well as Darley himself.

But still . . .

. . . she's leaving me!!!

She's leaving the agency for many brilliant and jealous inducing reasons, and I do not begrudge her any of them . . . but I am sad, I must confess.

You see, two years ago, Julia changed my life.

I had sent out several queries to agents and the next day she called for the full manuscript. She was the only one, I was to learn in the coming weeks, who would be interested. She helped me edit it and had an unwavering belief in it, even as we started getting rejections from publishers (in fact I think she got even more upset than I did about those rejections). She has been there to listen to me and my author neuroses. Heck, she even came to my going away party, when I left the UK.

She is also the reason I go into uber defense mode when people diss agents. She is the perfect example of how they go above and beyond the call of duty, are genuinely passionate about books, and . . . you know . . . are human.

So you'd better believe that I will miss her.

At any rate . . .

Thank you Julia. I've already said it to you like a million times, but I wanted to do it uber publicly, because really if you are going to say anything personal, it makes so much sense to do it online. And I wish you all the best with your upcoming adventures, and success with your life beyond that (though I do hope the adventures continue as well), because, as I always tell you . . .


You totally rock!


ETA - some of you have expressed concern over what will happen to me now, which is awfully sweet of you! Have no fear, I am definitely staying with the Darley Anderson Agency - everyone who works there is just wonderful, so I am not concerned in the least. Darley is looking for a new children's book author agent, and in the interim will be representing me. But thank you for the concern, my readers are the best!