Contacted the agent that the Wife’s colleague suggested; he requested the whole manuscript. Can I get a hell yeah? Thank you. Very good news for a Monday, indeed.

What I like about the agency:
1) International organization with offices in NYC and abroad.
2) Connections in movie business. Film rights are the only monies a book need not earn back in sales. Also the checks tend to be much larger than a first time novelist’s advance.
3) Proven track record in the industry.

Maybe I said this before, but when the Wife told me what agency this was initially, my jaw dropped; it’s the representation equivalent of Yale or Harvard. And God knows, the only time I touched the Ivy Leagues was while visiting friends who were students.

May as well aim big.

* Scurries off to replace the toner cartridge *

At last a really, really rich person who is happy about having money. God bless you, Oprah. God bless you. If I ever have a billion dollars I will rest just as easily.

I’m working on an approach for the literary agent the Wife stumbled across. This business about having a contact in common is an unusual situation, as by circumstance I reach out to agents cold and whatever happens, does. Last project, somewhere around fifteen percent of those solicited expressed an interest in the manuscript — a project which was neither developed properly nor ready for representation. I can say that now; I had no business trying to sell that book. As far as I’m concerned, if it stays in the file cabinet in perpetuity the world shall be no poorer.

But this round I have something good enough. Perfect? Hell no. Good enough? Yes. Of the two I spoke with from Team Eagle Eye, neither expressed qualms about showing the first 50 pages in the present condition. And from one of them, this is a real coup, as he loathes formula fiction and mysteries, and puts the anal in analytical. If there’s a glitch, he finds it. Bug tally thus far: 1, and it’s a point so minor I honestly consider it an observation.

In any case, contact by Thursday is the goal…