Sharing details of a lesson, by phone, with a student from my Reading group, led me to the help I was seeking for my next steps. My student had missed the lesson and I called to offer a session on what had ensued.

At the end of our discussion, his mother (whom I had never met) asked to chat with me. After a long conversation, I found out she had just published her first picture book. I was amazed. She shared her process with me and passed on the details of her agent and publisher.

This was somewhat overwhelming. My research for a while had been a search for an agent or publisher, one that catered for local writers.

At the end of the call, I was quietly elated and wondered why I had made that initial phone call after all.