Susan, Are you there? I have an agent who wants to see your book,

Is it wrong for me to be excited about this? Go deb and Susan!

Really? Wow!

Due to this whole pregnant and exhausted thing, I'm still about three chapters shy of finishing the rough draft, and I want to give it a good consistency read and tighten up the first fifty pages before I show it to agents or editors. Will she still want to see it in, oh, mid-October?

Susan, she says to tell you that they don't need the whole thing, what you have is fine, they're very laid back about it and understand. She's a friend for thirty plus years, and before she was an agent, she was a romance writer, and co-wrote a fun one ("Hidden Assets").

Important: use my full name in the subject email - Deb Grabien's friend or something along those lines - or it will get lost. She says she sees that, she knows to give it priority.

I told her it was a Regency, think Georgette Heyer by way of Jane Austen, and that I'd helped beta a small bit and loved it. So, go to:

[link]

and click on Marlene Stringer's email, and send from there. I told her your name.

They only handle a few romance writers but Marlene knows every human being in the romance sector, and belongs to RWA herself. If they don't end up repping you, she'll be able to hook you up, assuming she likes the book, and she will. I know her tastes, believe you me.

Oh, and the cover teaser for "Waver" (just heard from Ruth) is "Murder, Music and Ghosts from the Past." Which I suggested. So, yay me.

And Jenn wants me to really power up on TET (The Eden Tree), so it can get done and sent out.

Wonderful--I really, really appreciate this!

Do you think it would make a difference if I don't send it to her until Friday? That'll give me time to:

1. Get caught up getting the parts I've written in longhand into the manuscript.
2. Put in chapter breaks.
3. Do a quick read-through to make sure I've caught all the places where I changed my mind about a name, time frame, etc. halfway through, and cull any duplications caused by writing this thing out of order.

All of which, IMO, would make my preciousssss, my manusssscrippppt, a lot more complete, polished, and sellable.

Susan, take your time. She knows the situation.

t bounce bounce bounce

How can I ever thank you? (My default thank you is blackberry jam, but I haven't made any this year, unfortunately.)

Um, you just did say thanks. Welcome, ma'am.

Marlene'll hook you up. Must shower.

(My default thank you is blackberry jam, but I haven't made any this year, unfortunately.)

Mmmmmm...Susan's feralberry jam.... t /Homer Simpson

Oh, but I say thanks if someone holds the door for me when my hands are full, or lets me break in to make one copy in the middle of them making 300. For an intro to an agent, I feel like I should, I dunno, go capture Ichiro Suzuki and send him to you. Only his wife probably wouldn't appreciate that....must look into cloning technology.....

Well, if you want pop into a couple of local bookstores and ask them if they're going to be carrying "Weaver", I'd love that. Jenn seems to think that selling 3000 of the first run would ensure the sale of the rest of the series and a trade paperback deal as well.

So everyone can do that. I will love all of you.