The deed is done

I told you she had a very kind face.

I drank the magic Kool-aid. The SEND button has been pushed. The cavalry charge toward literary obscurity has begun.


My first query letter to Andrea Brown Literary Agency in California pushed off into cyberspace around 8:40 Friday morning. I selected an agent named Jamie, who specializes in picture books and teen novels. 


Jamie has a very kind face.


I got a robo-email confirming receipt of said query -- and manuscript (such as it is) -- about 8 minutes later. The Wonderfully Patient Spouse very kindly e-mailed this to me at work.


I swear I heard the sound of pitying laughter drifting up from the south.

"Andrea Brown/Jamie" is now written in red ink on my wall calendar at work, a most scientific method of keeping track of who I've contacted and when. You know, sort of like a prisoner -- scratching hash marks into the stone wall of his cell. Other names will join "Andrea Brown/Jamie" as the days and weeks go by.


Oh my heart. It's one thing to peck away here week after week in relative (pleasant) anonymity. It's no biggie to churn out advertising copy, annual reports and program brochures and fire them off for review to  (mostly) appreciative clients at work. 

But I just sent off something that I wrote to A Literary Agent.  

Oh my heart. What have I just done?