I keep getting lucky. Especially in my writing connections. The Fates have been busy weaving up some good threads for me. Maybe it wasn't Luck at all, but it was Something really good, that I ended up in Martine Leavitt's workshop at the BYU Writing and Illustrating for Young Readers Conference. Martine is an amazing writer (if you haven't read her Keturah and Lord Death, or Heck Superhero, do it now), and she's an amazing teacher. Maybe it wasn't Fate that the class itself was pretty amazing, too, full of talented writers, many of whom ended up becoming my critique-group friends. Two of them--Bree Despain and Matt Kirby--have recently landed book deals, and their first novels will be coming out in 2010. Luck? Maybe for me, that I get to work with them. On their end, it seems only Justice that all their talent and really, really hard work should pay off. Regardless, you won't want to miss these: Look for Bree's young adult novel, The Dark Divine, in spring o...