So I’ve decided to add another character to my book. I know, I know—I foresee all sorts of trouble in adding one but my book has left me no choice. It demands another character and so I have to relent and and do its evil bidding. Really though, it can be all kinds of trouble adding another character to your novel this late in the game. And I wouldn’t do it normally, but the changes I’ve made warrant adding another character. I’ve already got her outlined and I’m surprised at how real she already is. And I’ve made things a little easier for myself. How? I seriously considered making this character have a Jamaican accent. But doing that would require lots of more research, (even though I have been to Jamaica before) to get the dialect just right. So I scrapped the accent altogether. (Because after a few, “Hey mon,” she began to sound like the biggest cliché ever.) So a new character is added. Wish I could say after this it’s smooth sailing, but I’m afraid not. Welcome to the world of a writer.

I’ve talked about it a gazillion times on the blog—how I’m deep in revisions for my third novel. As I’m nearing completion of my third draft, (or is it my fourth? A girl stops counting after a while…) I am beginning to get anxious. I look at all these great books out there, and I start thinking, “That could be me! The beginning of my book is strong enough let me send it to a few agents and see what happens…”

This is what gets me in trouble every time. Sending my book out before it’s ready. And I know that it’s 80% there. But 80% is not 100%, so I have to wait and finish revising. I want to be able to say this time, without a doubt, that I sent my best work. (That thought should console me as I cry into my rejection letters…) I’m always rushing the process, because I want to hurry to that finish line—which for me is a published book. And I’ve been published before so I know some of the ends and outs of publishing, but I don’t know everything. (I can feel the hubby reading this and rejoicing, “It’s official! She finally admits that she doesn’t know everything!) I feel like having an agent will teach me so much about the publishing industry and it’s time to fess up and realize that I can’t go it alone. I need help.

I have a list of my top-ten agents that I want to work with. So I’m feeling anxious because I constantly wonder, “Is their client list full? Will they stop accepting submissions just as I’m ready to press send?”

So I’ve been taking a lot of deep breaths, and reminding myself that if that happens I will still be okay. That if my dream agent is no longer accepting submissions then I will do what all my author friends before me have done and just pick another agent off my list. And life will go on.

New hairstylists carry a stigma with them that they can’t do hair.  In fact, one of the first questions a client will ask you is the dreaded, “How long have you been doing this?”  I would answer truthfully, (does beauty school count?) and get the big eyes, nervous hands, hushed phone calls to the best friend asking them to pray that they leave the salon with hair on their head.  Yes, all these things would hurt my feelings, but could I blame them?  Absolutely not.  Anytime I think of anyone being new at something, I automatically think about the bumbling waiter who spilled Coke on my brand-new white pants, and as he stutters out an apology he adds, “I’m new at this.”  My anger dissipates and I shrug the whole thing off thinking, “Newbies are supposed to mess up aren’t they?”

Well sometimes, actually, most of the time, they’re not.  They can be quite competent if we give them a try.  As a hairstylist, I remember waiting on someone to finally give me a try, and one day my first try waltzed in and asked who was available.  The receptionist pointed her hand at me, and there she was sitting in my chair-an actual client!  The things dreams are made of!  (Okay, I digress, I was excited alright?) When I finished, I told her she was the first real client that I’d ever done. (I say real, because in beauty school, mannequin heads become your clients.)  She looked surprised.  “I would never had guessed.”

After that first client, I was hungry for more.  I wanted to feel that feeling again-of someone looking in the mirror and squealing in delight at the sight  of themselves.  I was ready to work.

The same can be said for qualified, new agents.  They want to satisfy their clients, in essence, they want to work.  So be brave-start with the new guy.