Some Girls Are Video Teaser #6 contains a little friendly advice, especially for people named Regina:

Every time I host a giveaway and people come out of the woodwork to enter it, I am thrilled. So before I announce who won my Some Girls Are ARC giveaway, I just want to thank each and every person who entered and expressed interest in the book! It really makes me happy and it really means a lot, and I know I say this every time, but it’s because I mean it every single time: I wish I could give EVERYONE a copy. Alas. In any case, THANK YOU! And on that note, the winner of an ARC of Some Girls Are is….


Amber!


Congrats, Amber! I’ve contacted you! And again, thank you everyone for entering!


*


So earlier in the week, ze wonderful Kody Keplinger had a great idea: Agent Appreciation Day! The gist is this (I borrowed the gist from ze wonderful Susan Adrian), “because sometimes agents get a bad rap, we wanted to join together to surprise our agents with a little love.” I thought, dude, I can totally do that. So here is my contribution:

My agent’s guidance, support, cheerleading, keen eye, belief in my work, patience, listening, savvy, passion and communication has made all the difference in this crazy/overwhelming/fantastic business of writing. Cracked Up to Be was going to be my last attempt at trying to get published before going on hiatus and looking into more practical pursuits. I didn’t want to stop, but I was really starting to think seeing my books on shelves wasn’t in the cards…

I remember querying my agent, I remember getting the full request in my inbox, I remember getting her email about wanting to discuss representation. My heart totally stopped. I remember that initial phone conversation, hanging up and telling my mom, “I want Amy to be my agent.” And very shortly after that, she was. Two years later, here we are!

I will always be grateful for my agent’s belief in Parker’s story, in Regina’s story, in the books I’m working on now. I wrote and dreamed of being published. Amy was obviously instrumental in making that dream a reality. She put my books into the hands of an incredible editor, who I also love working with, and now those books are being read, which is something I may never quite believe but will always be so grateful for. It’s changed my life! That alone makes it really hard to articulate just how much I love working with my agent and how much I appreciate her. What words could do someone who has made that kind of positive impact justice? None. But I will tell you that one of my absolutely favourite parts about finishing Some Girls Are was putting Amy’s name on the dedication line.

Amy, thank you for all the hard work you do on my behalf.

For a list of participating blogs, check out this entry at Lisa and Laura’s blog, and to all those hard-working, awesome agents out there, this is for you: