Hi there.

So.

I just sold The Strange Adventures of Rangergirl.

To Juliet Ulman at Bantam. She is my new favorite person. It is my new favorite publishing company. This is the real deal, y'all -- major publisher, good distribution, all that good stuff.

We got the initial offer on Friday, but things had to be negotiated, etc., so I couldn't say anything about it publically, though there was a certain celebratory quality to my weekend. The final deal was made today. My agent Ginger is marvelous. She's done quite well by me. She called me at the office today and we talked over contract stuff, and I'm quite happy with the terms. Sometime soonish I'll hear from the editor and find out what kind of changes she wants. I hear through writerly channels that she's great to work with, and I'm told through other channels that she's a nice fun person besides, so I hope I get to meet her in person sometime.

The advance is good, actually more than I'd hoped for/expected, and I'm thrilled. It's enough money that Heather and I can actually afford a wedding. We can pay off some debts. We can have a real honeymoon. I can sock some money into a certificate of deposit and let it accrue interest. I will probably also buy myself an iPod, because, hey. I sold a book. I think I've earned an iPod.

Let me tell you how happy I am about this. The June issue of A Certain Magazine went to press today, and I spent over 11 hours at the office, mostly chained to the computer. An 11-hour day would normally make me into a bitter cranky misanthropic beast for the rest night, but you know what? I'm not bothered a bit. I sold a book today.

This is a good day.