Friday, March 27, 2009

The Call

Phone rang at 6:22 a.m. Seattle time. When the phone rings that early in the morning, several thoughts flash through my mind: Who is calling? Wrong number? Emergency? Errant fax machine (this happens too often)?

This morning's call was one of the best I've ever received, which is a strong statement in my case. I don't usually become coherent before 9 a.m. But in this scenario I was wide awake instantly: the phone call was from an agent who wants to represent my novel.

HOORAY is too flat a word to describe how thrilled I am. Said agent will remain anonymous since we're at the very beginning of this process, but I will say I couldn't be happier about this agent's enthusiasm for my project and the reputation of the agency. Now I'll ask for all your crossed-fingers that we find an editor who shares the excitement about the series.

In venerable Underpants Gnomes' tradition I'm handing off my work to this equation:
Phase 1: Write novel
Phase 2: ? (mysterious agent work)
Phase 3: Published!

Of course this is an exaggeration; I understand an agent's role in this process and I'm ecstatic to have an industry pro invested in my work. I was too excited to return to sleep, so I got up and wandered around Seattle enjoying the soft gray morning light and the thrill of being a step closer to my dream of a writing career. Near Pike Place Market I came across this quote, stamped in bronze on the sidewalk:

"I always knew that at last I would take this road,
but yesterday I did not know it would be today."

There are moments when everything in the world falls in place, and I'm dancing with the earth itself.

3 comments:

  1. Congratulations on the call! How exciting. I would probably drop the phone. I'm in the query stage (query weary stage) and hope to progress to agented stage soon! When you're ready to divulge more details, I'd love to hear them. Is this your first novel? I follow (lurk at) Miss Snark's First Victim blog and found your post there.
    Best,
    Yvonne

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  2. Thanks for the post, Yvonne and for the congrats. I almost dropped the phone, particularly since it was so early in the morning. I'll write more about the process as it unfolds.

    This is my first novel and I'm still getting to know the mysterious (confounding?) world of publishing.

    Best of luck with the queries. What genre is your novel?

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  3. That's part of my quandary. It doesn't fit neatly into any one category. My characters are young (17-22) but I see my novel as adult literary fiction. At present I'm calling it Mainstream. I originally considered it Women's Literary Fiction with YA crossover potential but I don't know how much sex and language there can be in a YA novel, plus my novel is longer than the typical YA. My readers have compared it to Jodi Picoult who I believe runs the gamut from Women's to Commercial to Literary.

    You are obviously doing something right! Two phone calls? Wow! That is awesome!

    Yvonne

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