In my first 75 months of writing for children, I made one sale (The Day-Glo Brothers). In the past five months, my agent has made three on my behalf — S.V.T., my Alan Lomax biography, and now Pasta.

This third sale, to Dial, was announced just yesterday, and we’re describing this Y.A. project as a “collection of profiles of real-life impostors ranging from charlatans to survivors.” Since it doesn’t yet have an official title, or much else — we sold this one based on a proposal and two sample chapters — Pasta gets to keep its code name. (Get it? Impostor, pasta — I guess it helps to imagine a New England accent.)

These past few months have been thrilling and bewildering, rewarding and discombobulating. After more than six years of always actively trying to sell what I’ve written, I’m in the unfamiliar position of having enough work lined up to keep me busy for the next couple of years. I like the security and stability of the situation, but I hope I’ll still have the flexibility to jump onto some new project temporarily should inspiration come from an unexpected place.

But that’s just me overthinking things. For now, I’ll close with this quote from my limbic brain:

“Woo-hoo!”