Today I submitted a reservation request for my N-number on the FAA website http://aircraft.faa.gov/e.gov/NN/reserve.aspx
They require 5 N-numbers to be listed in the order of preference.
The top five N-numbers I chose are: 1. 2814X 2. 1814X 3. 4814X 4. 4814M 5. 2856M
All 5 N-numbers are available, so hopefully I'll get my first one. According to their website, it will take approximately 3 weeks to process the request.