So today my mother called me while I was on my way home from work. She was telling me that the literary agent (who's a friend of my dad) that I sent my manuscript to a couple months ago was taking a phone meeting with my dad this afternoon. They didn't know what the agent was going to say, but they wanted me to know the meeting was happening. To my credit, I still got a little bit of writing done this afternoon. Then I played the guitar for a long time while I waited for my Dad to call and tell me what happened. Dad called, and he said he took some notes one what they said. "Your technique is really good" and "They felt pulled through the story" I believe the phrase 'page turner' was bandied about. Then, at last he said, "They also said they LOVE you and they can't wait to sign you up."

That's right, I am a writer with a literary agent. I will now list the important pieces of good news.

They really did love my book, when the agent called to talk to me she said I was brilliant, and that the book I wrote was really challenging and most writers wouldn't have attempted it. That playing with the chronology like that had been done a few times before, but never very well, and that I totally nailed it. She also really liked that I had a nameless character in it.

The agent (her name is Jeana) was in New York last weekend and talked to some publishers about my book and everyone she talked to was really interested in it. They said that they were sure they could get it published, and I would probably even make money on it (which is impressive).

After talking over the book I had sent them (which is the backwards story, if you were wondering), Jeana asked me what else I was working on. I told her about my female casanova piece that I'm working on this summer, and I told her about my pirate novel. She asked me if there were historical characters in the book, and I told her that most of the characters are historical in that book. She said, "That's great, because a few publishers I talked to this weekend were looking for something JUST LIKE THAT."

Favorite quotes:

Jeana: "Can I just tell you that I love you?"

Alice: "That's like, God-is-with-you-mighty-warrior kind of shit!"

Melissa: "If you get to go on Oprah, I get to go with you. Ben can go everywhere else with you, but I get to do Oprah."

Ben: "I'm going to knock down our house and build a whole new one with full automation, and I'm going to get a Tesla Roadster, and a new laptop, and you can get your digital camera, and I also want..."

So, for those who need the details, they are going to send me an engagement agreement (which is a fancy word for a contract), and Jeana asked me to make sure my pirate novel is polished and then send it to her. Updates will follow as I get them.