Absolutely, Positively Terrified

After I took a deep breath I hit the send button.  But I wasn't sending story pages to friends.

I was sending a query letter to a literary agent.

Now, this is terrifying for many reasons.  The first is that this is my "toe in the water" moment.  This whole thing just got way too real, because I've made the jump from me only reading my story, to my friends reading it, to possibly an agent reading it.  And if an agent happens to like it enough that they want to represent me, I am on the road to getting it published.

I'm really hoping that my query letter is good enough that I can at least get a request for sample pages.  But, even if I don't get a request, I won't stop trying.  I firmly believe that you can learn from everything, so I'm ready for whatever is about to come my way - even if it means a rejection.

I've always been kind of stubborn anyways.

I guess now I know why :)

So, my take home is that even if it's the craziest, scariest thing that you'll ever do, follow Eleanor Roosevelt's advice and do it anyways.  After the trepidation dissipates, you'll realize that calculated risk-taking is really an amazing thing!

Go forth and achieve your dreams!

Alex