I held my tongue for awhile.
I mean, for me, an eternity.
I’m a talk-before-I-thinker, usually.
Holding my tongue is not my default setting.
I tend to have, um, thoughts on things.
And swallowing them may make me spiritually stronger in the end but in the meantime, I get kind of itchy.
And owly.
And mad.
So. Speaking up now.
A few words about Allyn Johnston.
Allyn is an amazingly insightful, intimate and visionary editor who literally loves books into existance, all the while making the authors and artists she works with feel… well… rather golden.
I can attest to this since that’s what she’s been doing for some of my books and me.
And that’s what she did for 22 years at Harcourt Children’s Books… until last week when she became a casuality of corporate acquisitions and bottom-line decision making (that don’t necessarily take into account things like love. Or books.)
I had a bunch of thoughts on that, but I’m kind of glad I waited because I’d rather write now that Simon and Schuster has announced that Allyn will be heading up her own imprint for them, starting next week.
So, today, instead of any sort of rant or tongue-holding, I can just say a deep and resonant hallelujah because this world of books is a braver, brighter place with her set firmly in it.
YAY!!!!
I didn’t know enough to hold my tongue — only enough to hold my breath. And I am so glad to be breathing again. That we all are breathing again. Whew.
Deep inhale.
Deep exhale…
Hear, hear, to Allyn! And to great books!
Yes. I’ll join that chorus…
Owly? Love that. Going to steal that next time I’m grouchy.
And I will add a Hallelujah to yours—sometimes, the world does the right thing.
C’mon, Sara. You don’t get owly. Do you?
hOOOOt.
I cannot wait to see the wonders that will come into being at Allyn’s Very Own Imprint.
Lucky S&S!
Maybe that’s what she should name it.
My Very Own Imprint.
That’d be cute 😉
How wonderful that she’s getting her own imprint! The corporate part of publishing seems very ruthless and unforgiving, but sometimes things do happen for a reason. Hooray for new beginnings and emerging stronger than before!
Yep. Change is daunting but so many possibilities lie on the other side…
I’m so glad that an editor you love is getting a chance to make her mark, again, in the publishing world.