Anniversary Time - TC and her agent, Josh Getzler!

Meow!  Today marks 10 years that the human, better known as T. C. Lotempio, signed with her literary agent, Josh Getzler!!!!!!!!  Josh is responsible for getting the Nick and Nora mysteries into print (both incarnations) as well as the Cat Rescue Mysteries and both incarnations of the Pet Shop Mysteries!  And, we hope, more to come!!!!!  The Human has a few words to say about her lovely agent!

Thanks ROCCO!

Getting started as a writer isn't easy.  You need, first of all, a good manuscript.  Then,  more often than not, you need a good agent, someone who knows what they're doing, who to contact, what houses are right for your novel, etc.  

I had to kiss a lot of frogs before I found my prince, but find him I did!  Ten years ago I sent Josh 50 pages of a novel about an allergic vampire slayer.  He read it, loved it, and signed me on as a client on June 3, 2011.  To date we have yet to sell that manuscript, but we did go on to sell three other series:  the Nick and Nora mysteries, the Cat Rescue mysteries, and the Pet Shop mysteries (recently re-released as Urban Tails Pet Shop Mysteries.) And here's how it all happened:

2011:  I send out 100 queries on my manuscript, SLAY ME ONCE.  Two agents offer repreentation.  I sign with Josh and his new agency, Hannigan Salky Getzler, on June 3, 2011.

January 14, 2013:  After a rewrite and Hurricane Katrina wreaks havoc, MEOW IF ITS MURDER, the first Nick and Nora, sells to Penguin!

December 2, 2014:  the first Nick and Nora is published.

2015/2016 - We shop around PURR M FOR MURDER, and it's finally published (after rewrite) by Crooked Lane.

2017/2018 - I write a story about a former actress, Shell McMillan.  Shell had many professions before she finally became a pet store owner and Midnight Ink bought the book in February of 2018.

2020 - We find a home for Nick and Nora and the Pet Shop mysteries at Beyond the Page!  They are publishing Nick and Nora 4-7 and Pet Shop 1-4.  And who knows, maybe more!

I have high hopes that Josh will continue to sell my manuscripts - hopefully, the two he's got right now LOL.  and there might be some other things up his sleeve, who knows???????   I look forward to another ten years with him!  (Oh, and I never thought Josh would be a cat person...but as you can see from the photo above, he's been converted!)

And who knows....he just  might sell that allergic vampire series someday!!!!!!!!

In honor of our anniversary, Josh has agreed to do ROCCO's Fast Five!

How do you get out of a bad mood?

 

I go out for a run with my wife. We've been running for around 3 years, and during Covid it turned into the thing that kept us from losing our minds. And with three (pretty grown-up) kids, a dog, and a cat with us in our apartment, it was one of the only ways the two of us had time alone together! It makes us happy, and lets us be together and solve the problems of the world.   

 

What hobby/interest are you a little obsessed with?

 

I play drums, and get really relaxed and zen behind the drum set, even though I'm more academic than emotional about my playing. I just like doing something very different with my brain, and it makes me incredibly happy, even when I'm not very good.

 

On what topic do you feel qualified to give advice

Baseball (ROCCO's note:  we should mention that Josh formerly owned a farm baseball team, the Staten Island Yankees!  So the man knows his baseball!!!!)

 

What was your best family vacation?

The northwest coast of Costa Rica for Passover a few years ago. It was gorgeous, relaxed, and a very different environment from where we usually hang out.

 

If you could live anywhere other than NYC, where would it be?

London, without any question; then Rome, then DC. I could live in any of those cities like a native in very short order. But I will never leave NY (except maybe for a sabbatical in London when the kids are out of the house...) 

Happy Anniversary, Josh and TC!

In honor of our anniversary, I'll give away a signed print edition of the Purr M for Murder paperback recently released by Harlequin.  Leave your name and email address in our comments section below to enter.  Contest closes midnight, June 10.  US entries only, please.