The Sounds of Silence

And so begins another week in which I wait to hear from Agent Number Two, a.k.a. The Strong Silent Type. The most important thing you need to know about said agent is that this entire adventure was his idea.

In fact, it was just about a year ago to the day that I picked him up at the train station in Phila. and we went out to Chester County to pay a visit to Gretchen Jackson, one of the owners of Barbaro. I remember him asking me what I thought the outcome of the visit would be. I told him that I thought Gretchen would say, "Kit, we like you and we want you to write our story." He looked at me like I was nuts.

Needless to say, about two hours later when we walked out of the Jackson's house, he was a believer. "She loves you," he told me. "You got it."

Of course, it took three months and many lawyers for everyone to agree on the details of this contract. In fact, I signed it two days before the horse was euthanized. The Jacksons still wanted to proceed with the project and based on the media response to the horse's passing, the story was alive and well.

"Take your time," instructed Agent Number Two. "The best books aren't written overnight."

So I dug in, researched enough to put together a proposal but not enough to write the book (a fine line) and began to think about structure and sequence and the all important voice.

All the while I was communicating with Agent Number Two, telling him where I was and what I was thinking and all the while the feedback was encouraging and positive. "Keep going," he instructed.

So I did, never realizing how nice it was to hear his voice.