Thanks Kristi, and thanks for spreading the word !

Your comment about flux is the very reason we need to keep the lines of communication open. I've known too many people who are afraid to talk to their own agents, or who won't ask their editors questions. These pros are on your team to help you put out the best possible product. It doesn't help you to fear them.

Thanks David! Glad I was able to help. Instead of success and failure when you get to the pitching phase, think of going in and sharing the love of your work with someone who is equally enthused about writing. It will help!

Hi Tori, thanks for stopping in and reading. Your comment brought to mind something Marianne Williamson says in "Return to Love"—that there are only two emotions, fear and love. She suggests that every negative emotion is based in some sort of fear, and that fear is the absence of love.

This has always resonated with me, and is a concept worth thinking about while pitching. First and foremost, you should be sharing with the agent your love for your story and your writing! If you can psych yourself into that frame of mind it will help quell the nervousness produced by fear of failure.

Hi Sevigne, thanks so much for your comment, which I responded to on my phone this morning—yet the response has disappeared. Your comment inspires a couple of thoughts:
1) Writers who wield confident prose can easily come of as formidable; and 2) I have a soft spot for Don Maass myself. He is an interesting case to discuss because Don is also a novelist—as a matter of fact, a good many agents are also writers or aspiring novelists. They're more like us than not!