Not all of my comics have specific origins that I can pinpoint, and often even if they do I don’t tell you about them, because the truth is death-defyingly mundane. But sometimes, by effacing just enough of the facts, I can hint at an origin story without forcing readers to endure details they won’t care about. I do this when the whole truth is funny enough (to me) that it makes me giggle out loud when I am alone – and the abridged version makes me feel moderately evil.

Case in point, this week: when she was younger, one of my dear friends used to taunt babies. Now aren’t you curious to know more? But you never will! I have tantalized you. You’re welcome!

HOWEVER.

Everything you read above is really just burying the true lead of this post (unless you consider the chimpanzee themselves the true lead, in which case GOOD ON YOU, that’s nice, I’m glad you like them). Which is to say:

I have a literary agent! (!!!) Her name is Emma Patterson, and she’s an agent at Brandt & Hochman, and she’s wonderful. For various reasons (which again, I won’t bore you with) I’ve been sitting on this news for a couple of days, but now I can TELL EVERYONE. Emma and I clicked right away – I’m certain she’s going to be an incredible advocate for my work, and I could not be more excited to work with her for as long as she’ll have me. Time for champagne!

ALSO.

Do you guys remember how my story “The Eternal Youth of Everyone Else” was listed as Notable by the storySouth Million Writers Award? Well, apparently it was also selected as a finalist! (I know, lots of exclamation points in this post. Sorry!) The winner is chosen by popular vote, and it would mean a lot to me if you would vote for my story. I promise the voting process takes almost no time, and you don’t have to sign up for anything.

Please read all the stories, and share the link with others!

That’s it! Just the best week ever! And all the world’s exclamation points.