Last night I sent off my first submission pack to my first agent - John Jarrold.  John replied within a few minutes, saying he hoped to be able to respond in a couple of weeks.
John's a nice guy, he's taken the time to come and talk to my writing group, and he has a huge amount of experience and reputation.  I really hope this works out as he's long been the agent I hoped to have.
Still, I'm also trying to be realistic - it's not an easy process, but you can't help but hope, can you?

We were talking about  what skills are needed for writing synopses after last night's writing session at  Million Monkeys We concluded the main one was the ability to précis, something you're unlikely to have been taught unless you have studied literature or language at school or college.

On the back of this we're now thinking about how to better educate ourselves in the T Party and may run a workshop.  And those of us already with the skill have realised it could be useful in other ways too.

This link looked useful to me, though a synopsis will need to be much shorter.

I really like what Tom said at the end of all this, half joking that novels include all the unnecessary words, scenes and characters.  That's what make them novels, and makes them entertaining.  It's the difference between a story and a synopsis.