Book Deal News: FACTORY GHOST (AKA: That thing I wasn't supposed to write ... but did)

This is a bit surreal.

In the fall of 2011, things were a bit hectic. I had the deal for SANCTUM, and I was smack-dab in the middle of writing the sequel. In September, I interrupted that project to write the partial for SCAN that went on submission in October.

I write to cope. And when I'm on sub, I cope hard. Once SCAN was with editors, I needed to stay busy, even though I knew that if it was acquired, I'd need to write the rest of the book on a very tight deadline. But for some reason, I didn't feel like immediately jumping back into Sanctum2 once I'd taken a break with it.

Aaaaand then I got an idea. Sneakily, guiltily, I wrote a few chapters. I sent them to Brigid Kemmerer, because she is very honest and frank (on top of being a brilliant writer), and I knew she'd slap me upside the head if I was getting involved in a project that was a total waste. But she got back to me quickly and basically said "GO GO GO!"

So I went went went, and three weeks later, FACTORY GHOST was finished. It's sort of like Phantom of the Opera meets Upton Sinclair's The Jungle, set in a fictional Asian society. Writing it was intense to say the least. But I'm *really* proud of it. And yesterday evening, this came out in the Publishers Weekly Children's Bookshelf:

Ruta Rimas at Margaret K. McElderry Books has acquired at auction Sarah Fine's Factory Ghost, a gothic YA novel about a 16-year-old girl who moves in with her father, the resident doctor for the town's slaughterhouse, and discovers that the myth of the factory ghost may not be a myth at all. Publication is set for winter 2014. Kathleen Ortiz of New Leaf Literary & Media did the two-book deal for North American rights.

Thank you, Brigid, for encouraging me to write this book even though the timing was all wrong. Thank you, Kathleen, for not freaking out (out loud, at least) when I told you I was writing another book instead of the books that were already under contract (and for supplying the color coded schedules to make sure I don't miss any of my deadlines. And for, you know, selling my books). Thank you, Ruta, as well as the entire McElderry team, for being so enthusiastic about this story.

And thank you, blog friends, for being part of this with me. I am so, so fortunate to be part of this community.