Ya Never Know

I guess this is the best forum to place this. Move me if not.
Yesterday at the end of a slow work day I was manning the phone.
This I rarely do, but my office employee had left early to go to the dentist. It was quiet so I took the last half-hour of my day to rework a new idea I had for my first query.
I am an artist and my business sells products of my own design and manufacture to both wholesale and retail outlets.
A few minutes before closing the phone rang and a woman with a crisp and professional voice asked to place an order.
In 30 years of business I can usually distinguish the voice of a wholesaler and a retail customer and I believed this woman to be the former.
"Do you have store?" I asked.
"Oh no!" she said and laughed "I'm a literary agent."
GULP
"Well. I need you!" sez I, "as I've just written a book."
"What is your book about?" she asked.
I choke out an even briefer version of the query, and I tell her I had just been polishing my query moments ago.
"This sounds interesting." she says. " Don't you think this is strange?"
"Well it is a coincidence." I say
"I don't believe in coincidences." she says. "Would you send me the first three chapters?"

When I got home I looked her up. She's a biggie. Only accepts from published authors, which I am not.

Gahhhhhh! Now I've got to send them. This will be my first.

I know I know. It gives me the hee-bee jee-bees. I'll keep you all posted. It will probably be a rejection- but I am better off in the agent category than I was 24 hours ago at this same time!

Cliff Face said:

Wow, that's awesome!

Say... can you redirect the incoming calls to Australia?

Click to expand...

Thanks, I hope it works. I'm Half surprised I got the call at all, as my phone system here works so poorly. You ought to see my pathetic internet connection. I call it the "sporadic dial-up system."

Thanks regdog,siri and Russell. I am keeping my fingers crossed. I'm enough of a pessimist to assume the rejection will arrive back home like a heat seeking boomerang, but I'll report how it goes. When I looked her up it said she takes published authors only and that sure isn't me.

Hot Damn!

She called me! Yesterday at about the same time time she called the first time. The first thing she said was " Do you have time to talk with me?", which is about the same thing as " Do you have time for chocolate?" Then she said. "Your first three chapters are so good.... when I finished them it was like walking out of a movie theatre and not wanting to be outside but wanting to go back in and live in the movie again." She asked for the rest of the manuscript, talked with me for 45 minutes and gave me her home phone number.
I think this sounds pretty good, but now I can worry she wll hate the rest of it. Fingers still crossed!

Thanks all. I have sent her the rest of the manuscript ( on paper) today.. so I just hope she likes the end of the "movie"as well as she did the beginning.
I guess there was perhaps a little bit of advantage in the fact she originally called to buy a product I had designed, so presumable we have similar tastes.
I do send this out as an encouraging tale to others- because ya never do know.

Coincidence or not- I'll take it!

I sent the full via snail mail on June 4th and she has written today with an offer of representation, and the notice she has already spoken with an editor friend from one of the bigger publishers who wants to see the novel. I am reeling in happiness and disbelief.
Ya never know.
Thanks everyone for all the crossed fingers and good wishes.