I’m so, so, SO excited because my middle grade has sold to SCHOLASTIC PRESS!!!! Here’s the deal announcement.

The inspiration for PRINCESS AND THE PAGE began when I took a trip to France with my sister.

I remember telling the castle tour guide that I was going to write a book about one of the castles on our tour. He looked at me like I was a crazy. But not my sister! She knew this dream of mine to write a princess story was going to come true even before I did. (Yes, we both worked at Disney.)

So the two of us searched for secret passageways and hidden rooms at every castle we visited.

But when we arrived at Château de Chenonceau, I KNEW this was the castle for my book.

But the book was harder to write than I thought and soon I completely forgot about my princess book. That is until my agent called me saying Andrea Pinkney from Scholastic wanted to work with me.


This is how our convo went:
Jeff: So Andrea Pinkney and I talked, and she’d like to work with you on a project.
Me: *passes out*
Jeff: Um, Christy, are you still there? Do you have any pitch ideas?
Me: *recovering from a near heart attack* I have this one idea about a princess and a pen and castle in France.
Jeff: Wow! This sounds amazing! Why haven’t I heard about this book????
Me: Because it’s awful and unfinished and I’m stuck. But mainly because it’s awful.
Jeff: Everything you write is amazing. You are too hard on yourself.
Me: No, Jeff it’s really, really BAD.

So we set up a phone call for me to talk to Andrea. I was a wreck. I told all my parents and friends and random strangers on the street that on Friday at 5 pm to leave me alone because I had a VERY IMPORTANT phone call.

It was Wednesday and the phone rings. I was like “Hey!” And then the caller introduced herself. It was ANDREA PINKNEY! I think I dropped the phone. Then I might have said something. I’m not really sure what. But she was so calm and professional despite the fact I messed up on the day of her call.

Our conversation goes like this:
Andrea: So tell me what the name of the book is that you are thinking about.
Me: (Inside I’m thinking OMG!!!!! I’M TALKING TO ANDREA PINKEY!!!! Someone take a picture!) I can’t remember the title. Something about a princess.
Andrea: Okay. So what is the story about?
Me: (OMG!!!! SOMEBODY PINCH ME!!!!! I’M TALKING TO ANDREA PINKNEY!!!!) I um… it’s about a girl, a pen, and a fairy tale. *hyperventilating* Let me look. I’ve got it written up on my computer somewhere. (So this is the point where I don’t find it even though it was right in front of me.)

 

But in the end Andrea was incredibly kind and it was a great conversation. Afterward I emailed my agent and told him Andrea was amazing, but I was very sorry because I completely messed up on the phone call and figured she’d never want to talk to me again.

Apparently I didn’t completely mess up because Andrea loved the idea!

I went on to rewrite the book based on Andrea’s direction and she liked it! Then it went to acquisitions!

I was a wreck waiting for the verdict.

I had just finished a book signing with Amy Christine Parker and Vivi Barnes and we were walking through the parking lot to meet friends at a Japanese restaurant afterward. That’s when I got THE CALL.

The convo went like this: 
Jeff: You did it! Scholastic offered!
Me: *screaming and crying*
Jeff: Um… are you okay?
Random people in the parking lot: Is she okay? Should we call an ambulance?
Amy and Vivi: Don’t worry. She’s just very, very happy.

I am so thrilled and excited to be joining the Scholastic team and especially working with the brilliant Andrea Pinkney who I am now able to have normal conversations with (I only freak out once or twice).

Here’s my video of me signing my contract:

I can’t wait for you guys to read my fairy tale! You can add it to your Goodreads list here!

If you love my Gilded series, I think you’ll fall in love with this new book, too!