A Happy Moment

I went to the Greater L.A. Writer’s Conference this weekend. I went so that I could have a one-on-one conference with a real agent. The gig was that I would send the first 20 pages of my book, “Minerva James and the Trial of Mars.” He or she would look it over and tell me just how hopeless it was to get it published. I would leave in a dark depression and vow never to write another word for the rest of my life, except to scribble in my journal that the world will never recognize my genius–genius, I tells ya.

I went up to the agent (whom I will not name, to keep his privacy) after he spoke at the panel.

“Oh, you’re Mark Bruce,” he said.

I was surprised.

“I’ll tell you how I know when we meet in a few minutes,” he said.

I sat waiting for him at a little table in the hallway. He came over and laid down my Yelp page, with my photo (though the photo was when I had brown hair, not gray).

Oh, I said. You looked me up.

He shook my 18 pages of novel at me.

“Most lawyers can’t write. They think they’re writing a motion.”

“Yeah,” I said.

“But you…you can write,” he said.

“Okay,” I said, waiting for the however to raise its ugly head.

“Usually, I mark up pages with red pen,” he said. I fully expected him to show me a bleeding first chapter. He shook the pages at me again. “But you won’t find a mark in here.”

“Uh, okay.” What? I wasn’t good enough for his red pen?

“So my question is,” he said, “Do you have an outline for Book 2 and Book 3?”

“I have eight thousand words written for book two,” I said.

“Non-responsive,” he said. (He, too, is a lawyer).

“No, I don’t have outlines…wait a minute, are you going to represent me?” I asked, stunned.

“Yes, of course. Minerva. Five foot eleven, curly black hair, was a nurse in Korea…how could I refuse her?”

I know the feeling. When she came to me back in 2017, she demanded I write her story even though I knew nothing about her.

Wow. At last I found someone who saw the potential in my girl that I see. Someone who recognizes that Minerva can be a game changer in the mystery world.

I have an agent.

Wow.

I have an agent.

Now for the outlines for Book 2 and Book 3.