Anxiety and Reader Finish Lines

I am pleased that a few of my readers have already finished their first read throughs! (And I say first only because they've mentioned going through it again, not as an assumtion. That'd be silly!) I have yet to sit down and discuss the story at length with any of them, but I am hoping to get a few critiques and Q&A starting with the end of this week. Even if it takes me bribing people out of the house with coffee, I will siphon their thoughts one way or another! Ahem. Anyway, I am still every bit as excited about the progress everyone else is making. People stop in and say that they've been reading my book, even if they aren't close to halfway finished, and it makes me smile to know that my words are being read--and enjoyed. It's like...that first house party. You know there's a potential for mess...but you revel in the fact that others are sharing your space, your world, with you. This story is like, my universe, my escape from reality, and it finally is housing other live people exploring its mysteries and characters. My readers are, in effect, making my parallel world more alive to me. For that, I can not express enough gratitude and joy.

At the same time, I am still heavily researching the industry and agents...a task that is taking longer than I anticipated. I figure, if I'm going to put the time and effort into this, I might as well make sure I do it correctly from the beginning. The first book I bought on agents (I have my eye on two others) has quite a few useful articles about the industry in the beginning. I haven't even reached the listings pages yet. Nevertheless, I feel like I'm learning a lot all over again. What to do. What not to do. How to do both. Learning fills me with confidence, so naturally the more, the better. Just have to keep moving forward so I can progress to the query writing. And the rejection letters! <3

Or hopefully...an acceptance letter.