Got my first request for a full this week. Yippee! I was so excited I spilled my coffee, then called my hubby, then spilled some more coffee. (Luckily, said spills were in no way near my computer.) I was waiting on feedback on my first few chapters so I decided to wait until I got the feedback to send CODE to the agent. I knew that wait would only be a day.
The feedback was positive-- looks like I've got a good grip on voice and POV, and all my reviewers loved my story. I didn't have to change a thing!
Still, for completeness, I decided to read through the entire manuscript again. I found a few things to change, but not much. Good, right?
So why was I paralyzed when it came time to send my novel? I was so excited that I literally could not push send. I was so afraid that I was about to make a mistake. Not with the agent-- don't get me wrong, I would be thrilled to be represented by him! I was just afraid that my novel wasn't the best it could be. I've worked so hard, so long on it. I know I'll keep working on it until the day my agent and editor tell me to stop. But I also know it's ready. So why the fear?
I think it's just fear of the unknown. This felt so real. Someone, a complete stranger, wants to read something that I wrote. He wants to see if it's something he wants to represent. How awesome is that?
My hubby finally talked me into pushing "send." I did it and felt instant relief. Now all I have to do is wait for the agent to respond. I'm getting pretty good at waiting. In the meantime, I'm off to work on my next work-in-progress-- MERCY.
Congrats! I know that feeling of terror; "What if I left something out? What if theer are so many errors the agent sets his computer on fire? What if I misspelled my own name?" the list goes on and on, but eventually we have to accept that we've done the best we can and send it out into the world to fly on its own.
ReplyDeleteGood luck!!