Book Announcement!

It's official!  From Publisher's Weekly:

Stacy Whitman at Lee & Low Books has acquired North American English and Spanish rights to the YA fantasy Drift by debut author M.K. Hutchins. In the book, Tenjat decides to save his family from poverty by joining the island's Handlers, who have the dangerous job of protecting their island – a giant turtle – from the "naga" monsters that surround them. Publication is set for spring 2014 under the Tu Books imprint; the Ashley Grayson Agency brokered the deal.

Needless to say, I'm thrilled to be able to tell everyone about this!  Working with Stacy on this book has been amazing. 

I started writing this story some seven or eight years ago.  Every few years I'd take it out, polish it up, then toss it in the back of the drawer while I worked on other projects.  It never quite felt finished.  Drift might still be in that drawer, if not for a library presentation from Laura Bingham.  I chatted with her afterwards, and she gave me the sage advice that submitting manuscripts is rather like doing the laundry: it isn't always enjoyable, but I should get into a routine of doing it.   

Drift came out of the drawer once more.  Off it went to Tu Books.  And to my delight, it stuck.

The Unexpected Outline

Over at Gem State Writers today, I have a post up, "The Unexpected Outline," about how writing processes change over time.

The Temple's Posthole

My novelette, "The Temple's Posthole," is now up at IGMS.  This story was illustrated in color for the cover of the issue, and the art's gorgeous.  Check the story and the art out here.

LTUE Highlights

In no particular order...

1. I listened to James A. Owen make a rather convincing argument that goats, in fact, would be a valuable space commodity.  I wish I could replicate the awesomeness of his comments for everyone who wasn't in that jam-packed room.

2. I met most of my writing group in person.  We're spread across three time zones, and I now know faces where before I only heard voices.

3. Discovering the green room, and that the green room had eclairs and croissant sandwiches.  I was on just one panel, but the amazing LTUE volunteers always made me feel welcome.

LTUE Schedule

I'm very happy that things have worked out for me to attend Life, the Universe, and Everything 31.  This is the first conference I ever attended, and going last year felt a bit like going home.

I'll be participating as a panelist for the first time this year -- "Using Anthropology for Inspiration," a topic I'm very excited about.  It's Saturday at noon, for anyone attending who want to come by.