I booked an international critique with Taylor Norman from Chronicle at the SCBWI conference last year. She gave me such wonderful and insightful feedback, and as part of the critique she mentioned that she liked my voice and would be curious to know whether I wrote for any older age groups. I responded to her via email with a junior fiction book I’d written.
Storytime with Kiah
Nothing happened with either of those early mss, but it led to a really lovely relationship where we spent about a year going back and forth with a couple of my manuscripts, which weren’t quite right for various reasons. And then earlier this year I sent her my first MG manuscript, and she took it to acquisitions a month later. The correspondence with Taylor and the whole process with Chronicle has been incredible - an absolute highlight of the past twelve months.
I really, really appreciate that SCBWI opened up the opportunity to connect with an international editor who I would never have otherwise met!
I’ve signed a contract, but the book isn’t out until 2022.
Kiah Thomas