Okay, that aside, my wife checked my email and told me an agent had responded to my novel query. I was like 'whatever, I'll check it tomorrow'. So I check it today, and its an agent interested in looking at the full manuscript. That's the first hint from a professional that my story might be of interest to someone other than my immediate friends and family.

So, your brain starts working overtime. I've already come up with a list of reasons that the agent (who will remain nameless in case they decide the story sucks, and they don't want to be embarrassed for showing interest) may have asked for the full manuscipt:

1. The story is awesome and he will offer a contract as soon as he reads it.
2. He was drunk. Very, very, drunk.
3. He was feeling sorry for all the rejection letters sent out recently, and thought he would send a grain of hope my way.
4. God softened his heart to give me hope so I don't give up.
5. He sent the request for the manuscript to the wrong person.

Send it out, but be sure to keep querying. When I was querying, agents read much faster when they knew the manuscript was "in play" at other agencies.

I haven't had anything else published. I worked on some short stories for a while, but that market seems as tough as the novel market. And since I really want to write novels, I figured I'd focus on that.

I've often heard the paradox that you can't get an agent if you haven't been published, and you can't get published if you don't have an agent. Well, I figured since there are so many books out there by first time writers, some people must be getting through. I decided to go the agent route first because maybe they know what they're doing. Then, if I fail, I'll query the publishing companies directly.