Hard work pays off....my story of "The Call!"

If you follow me on Twitter or Facebook, you may have seen some vague posts lately about me being super excited and celebratory. Wouldn't take a rocket scientist to guess what it was all about :)

I got THE call! Well, it was an email for me, but just as fabulous! Kinda glad it wasn't an actual phone call or I may have embarrassed myself by screaming or crying or asking, "Is this for real?"

So let's back it up a bit and start at the beginning, if you're interested in reading the whole story. :)

Summer 2012 was FULL of submitting my manuscript and waiting. Lots of interest in my newest book, Try Me On For Size. I did Twitter pitches, I did blog events, I did all kinds of stuff. I participated in a fun Twitter pitch in August, Pitch Madness, I believe. I received three requests, two from the same agency. So out of respect, I sent it to the one who'd requested first. Rejection a few weeks later :(

Jump ahead to October. I saw on Twitter that the other agent who requested the MS was no longer with that agency. Sooooooo I Tweeted and asked if she remembered me and if it was okay to submit to her. She said yes! So I did. The next week was a flurry of emails. She loved the partial...wanted the full. Loved the full, but had a couple suggestions. If I was interested in making the changes, I could resubmit. The changes, in my opinion, were minimal and I thought they were a good suggestion, so I made them. Took me about a week. Sent it back and she confirmed. And then I waited.

And waited.

And waited.

It felt like forever.

I checked up mid December. I hated doing it. I hate looking clingy and impatient. I know how the publishing industry is. I know it takes time and there is always waiting. But I guess since our first few interactions had been so quick, the two months that had passed seemed r e a l l y long. But she was great and said she had been really busy the last few weeks before (she opened her own agency in November!) but she had some free time so she was definitely getting to it soon.

So then Christmas week came and I posted this post on December 19th. I remember writing it and wondering if the finding an agent thing was ever going to happen for me. I knew this was not something Santa could bring me.

The holidays were great. It was really a wonderful week for our family. And then on January 2nd, I sat down to work on my newest WIP. Checked my email and there was a reply from her. The dread set in. So many other emails over the last 6 years have all said the same thing....NO. My gut told me this was just another to add to the pile. I clicked on it....to get it over with. It didn't start the same as the others and my brain wouldn't let me read it one word at a time. It skimmed it quickly find out what the email actually said. And it wasn't a no. It was a yes! Tears flooded my eyes and my heart beat a million beats a minute.

I replied right away with a couple questions, forcing my fingers not to type out, "I love you!"

And then I waited.

And waited.

Almost a week went by with nothing. I got really nervous. What if she changed her mind? So again I sent a message to check in. And as I'd hoped, she'd never gotten my email reply...lost somewhere in cyber space! Why does that only happen on important emails? LOL!

My agent (SQUEE!) is Brittany Booker of The Booker Albert Literary Agency. Everything was made official and I'm now even listed as a client on her website!!

So so excited!! HUGE thanks to everyone who has supported me over the years and helped me become the writer I am now!! Onward and upward from here!