Well. Not really a new name. It's been my name for um...12 years (had to stop and do a mental calculation hee hee) Janet Gurtler.
I'm so very excited to finally be able to officially jump up and down and screech, "HURRAY, HURRAY, The Weight of Bones is going to be published!"
I really love this book, which is about sisters, Tess and Kristina, and the roles we take on in life and how difficult it can be to change them. FYI- I love sister books. Sisters can have such complicated relationships, yet at the core of this bond is someone who gets you, who has your back when it's down to the crunch and someone who is (hopefully) always there for you in one way or another.
My agent Jill though says it better on the blurb from PM.
Children's:
Young Adult Janet Gurtler's THE WEIGHT OF BONES, a twist on MY SISTER'S KEEPER for teens, in which a brainy high school freshman embraces yet resents the shadow of her beautiful, popular, volleyball-scholarship-bound sister, but when the senior is diagnosed with bone cancer, it drastically changes both sisters' lives, to Sourcebooks Fire, by Jill Corcoran at The Herman Agency (NA).
The book journey was a wee bit serendipitous, I think. Even though the editor who acquired The Weight of Bones left Sourcebooks for a new opportunity, he is a fabulous guy who I am so grateful to, for bringing the book to acquisitions and getting the wonderful,"yes". Haven't officially "met" my new editor yet but have heard wonderful things about her, and looking forward to working with Sourcebooks soon! Fortunately she was one of the people who was on the acquisitions team, so is already behind The Weight of Bones!
So why the new name, Janet Gurtler?
Well. Some of the books that I write are super edgy. ie- Waiting To Score. When WTS was published, I chose to use my initials as it was a "boy" book and it made more sense to leave the name androgynous. MacLeod is the name I went by as a teen so it made sense. Thus. J.E. MacLeod. BTW- I have a couple of more books in me that might lend well to the J.E. MacLeod name, so that's not dead and gone, but for my more commercial books, the name I go by now will be the name on my books. Thus. Janet Gurtler.
It means I will eventually be coming up with a new blog and new website for Janet Gurtler, but will link one to the other for easy reference.
I can't wait until The Weight of Bones comes out, and look forward to the many great stops along the way to publication. Revisions! Cover! Copyedits! ARCs! Promotion!
It's going to be a fun and exciting ride!