In late 2003 I got to know several young adult and middle-grade writers online via livejournal, including megancrewe. Over the years, we have all stayed close, critiquing each others' manuscripts, talking about writing. After six years of knowing each other online I don't consider them just writerly friends, I consider them friend friends. (And in case you're wondering, I got to know them all via my personal lj, not this one.)

Megan and I, not surprisingly, initially connected over a book: "The Changeling" by Zilpha Keatley Snyder. If you've spent time talking about children's books with either of us, chances are we've mentioned this book. It's quite possibly the most perfect middle-grade girl book you will ever read. And it had a significant and similar effect on both of us when we were children.

When Megan shared "In Memory Of" with me in late 2005, I absolutely fell in love with it. I remember telling her I swear it's not just because I'm your friend, I REALLY LOVE this book. Not too long afterwards I was recommending books to a teen patron at my library and I thought, what was the title of that great book I read, the one where the girl can talk to ghosts at her school and uses them to get dirt on the popular kids . . . oh right, it's Megan's book and it isn't published yet, so I can't give it to anybody!

I am so, so proud to be able to say I was there in the beginning and got to watch the whole thing unfold: Megan getting an agent in October of 2006, revising, sharing the cover art for the first time, and now, a Real Live Book. I was there for the whole thing! (And the coolest part of this is that it was all thanks to the internets. How else could two people in South Florida and Toronto keep in touch as well as we do--or even get to know each other in the first place?)

So . . . keep writing, keep connecting with critique partners at conferences and on the internet, keep encouraging others and opening yourself up to be lifted up and encouraged in return. We're all in this together, and while you may feel you are toiling in obscurity--your hard work and dedication can really pay off! Out of the group of five writers I've known since 2003, three of us are agented/agented and published. (skutir is the other one, hi Kurtis!) I am fully confident that the other two will be one day as well (Amy, sadly gone from LJ, is in my online YA critique group, and somedaysawriter has turned her considerable talents to writing adult fiction).

"Give Up the Ghost" comes out on September 15. Go read it. It really is that good. And I'm not just saying that because Megan's my friend. :)