Monday, September 19, 2011

Julie's Big News

By Pamela

Kim, Julie, Pamela, Elizabeth, Joan and Susan


Last November at our writing retreat five of us sat at the long wooden dining room table and listened as Julie read to us the unfolding love story of Isabelle and Robert. Back then she called it All the Things You Are, inspired by the popular song of that era when the story takes place.

Over the next few months, her story would grow and change, new titles would be batted around for us to test drive, and we hungrily waited for the first-final draft to show up in our inboxes. I remember the night I finished her story, with tears streaming down my cheeks, I texted Julie even though it was well past midnight. (She's a night owl and I knew she'd be up.) I can't remember what I wrote exactly, but I'm pretty sure it was something along the lines of: You've done it! This is the one! I knew it. We all knew it.

This summer, finally satisfied that her revisions were complete, Julie sent out query letters to a few agents and received a request for the full and from her 'dream agent' Elisabeth Weed and later signed with Weed Literary to represent her story, now titled: Calling Me Home.

For the past two weeks, Julie has been sharing news with us regarding the overwhelming response to her story from people outside our circle of six who have echoed our sentiments. I've seen Julie vacillate between disbelief and shock and finally joy with a healthy dose of gratitude.

Today we're able to share with you what we've been dying to shout from the rooftops across north Texas.

Julie has a book deal!

From today's Publisher's Marketplace, the Deal of the Day:

Fiction: Debut: Julie Kibler's CALLING ME HOME, in which an 89-year-old recounts the story of her forbidden relationship with the black son of her family's housekeeper and its tragic consequences in 1930s Kentucky, as she travels cross-country to a funeral with her dear friend, a young black hairstylist with family troubles of her own, to Hilary Rubin Teeman at St. Martin's, at auction, for publication in 2013, by Elisabeth Weed at Weed Literary (US/CAN/OM).

Foreign rights: to Jenny Geras at Pan Macmillan in a pre-empt, to Piper in Germany, to Belfond in France, to Aschehoug in Norway, to Artemis in Holland, to Novo Conceito in Brazil by Jenny Meyer at Jenny Meyer Literary Agency on behalf of Elisabeth Weed.




10 comments:

  1. So proud of you, Julie! What an amazing year. Thank you for letting me be a part of the ups and downs of it all. Even more than that, thanks for the friendship. I can't wait to go through this same experience with everyone here at WWW! Congratulations!

    ReplyDelete
  2. So happy to hear this news. Saw it over on WU and wanted to stop by and say congratulations. Sounds like a wonderful story and look forward to reading it.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Cindy Keeling19 September, 2011

    That's fantastic, Julie. Congratulations!! Can't wait to read it.

    ReplyDelete
  4. We are all so proud of you, Julie! I'm thrilled to have been one of your first readers. I remember sitting there, shaking my head, trying to come up with something, anything, to say other than "this is fantastic" and "this is the one." I am thrilled for you!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Sounds like an amazing story! Congratulations on your book deal, Julie!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Thank you, Susan, Stacy, Cindy, Kim, and Laura. It's been a fun ride so far. Lots of interesting twists and turns ahead, I'm betting!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Julie, what incredible news! I'm so happy for you and can't wait to read it when it comes out.

    ReplyDelete
  8. This is amazing news! Congratulations Julie! Can't wait to read it!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Lindsey and Jenna, thank you!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Though I couldn't physically be with all of you to share the excitement of this news, I sure was in spirit. So...happy for Julie and very proud of her. No doubt she's inspired each of us.

    ReplyDelete

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...