Ok, so I actually have some news.
After I researched the heck out of a short list of agents, I sent my first submission to what I considered was my top choice, and crossed my fingers. That was on January 23. By February 23, it was increasingly apparent, but no surprise, that I wasn't going to get a response.
Now if you've never had this experience, it's a little like making a delicious pie for someone and leaving it on their doorstep and never knowing what might have happened to it. Did they like the pie? Did they even taste the pie? Maybe a ravenous raccoon snatched it off the stoop before they even had a chance to decide. True, I knew deep down that if the first agent that I ever pitched my book to had said, "Yes! I'll take one of those..." it would have been paramount to winning the lottery. I get that, but I wouldn't deny that it didn't sting, just a little.
February 23, I chalked it up to a rejection and immediately submitted it to another agent that sounded equally promising. Within three weeks, I received an email. I was ecstatic. I couldn't move while my heart pounded out an obscure reggae tune as I sat and stared at it. Finally, eyes closed, I clicked on it.
The short answer is no, I did not magically receive a request for my manuscript. I did, however, receive a somewhat generic response, but a rather encouraging one, at that. The agent inferred that the book was of interest to her, but given her current work load could not take it on. She urged me to "quarry the heck out it", though and said to consider it more of a "redirection" rather than a rejection. So now I know what it's like to offer someone a pie who might really like it, but for one reason or another didn't think it was quite right for them but thought there might actually be someone out there who might bite.
I know. it's a tiny morsel. But I'll take it.