It’s the birthday of novelist Judith Guest, born in Detroit, Michigan (1936). In 1974, she sent the manuscript of her first novel off to Viking Press. She didn’t have an agent, and didn’t send along a query letter or a synopsis first. The novel managed to catch the eye of an editor, and became the first unsolicited manuscript accepted by the press in 26 years. The novel was Ordinary People (1976), which went on to become a bestseller.”
Quoted from The Writer’s Almanac today.