What do they have in common?  Right now…moi.

I’m agent hunting. No longer agent hunting.  This post was originally written on Wednesday or Thursday, and as of this morning, actually as of 10:30 am, Friday morning, I have an agent.  As in like ten minutes ago.  Oddly enough, I can also breathe again and I’m sitting here with a smile on my face. And before anybody asks, I can’t talk about that rabbit just yet…gimme a little more time.  Maybe before the year is out.  Gotta see what happens.

I still have the vague, undefined rabbit that I can’t really talk about yet.

Now, I’m also insane.

See the common thread here?

This is my first serious agent hunt.  My previous agent came recommended by a friend and we were together right around four years.

Just like pretty much everything else in this business, I’m fumbling along.  Fumbling along into getting published, into getting into print, into getting an agent, etc, etc, etc.  Never ask me for advice on how to do things.  I never really know how I do things.  Which is why I start pestering friends at odd hours.  Some poor friends of mine go weeks or months without an IM, and then somebody pushes the panic button and I’m lighting up the IM of every writer friend I have.  I email ad nauseum, ad infinitum, and just keep on going.

So how do you go about searching for a new agent?  Because I really need this new agent, and I can’t do anything about certain things…like…oh, say…rabbits…until I have an agent.  Well, I could.  But I don’t wanna.  Since I haven’t really done much of an agent search before, and I’m not entirely sure exactly what I’m doing…I start scouring the net, talking to friends.

Questions I’m asking the agents that I’m talking to…

Do you use a hands-on type of approach and offer editorial-type input?

I have a problem being complacent…I’m tickled pink when somebody actually wants to pay me money to write.   But am I settling when I could go for more?  More is always good, right?  So can you help keep me from being too complacent?

Do you use an agent/author contract?

I’m easily bored…oh, look something sparkly…uh, wait…sorry.  Distraction.  I have a short attention span and I bounce around a lot from genre to genre.  I have plans for stories outside romance-not quitting romance, but I love fantasy and urban fantasy and I’d like to try something there, too.  Could you represent me there should I try to go for it?

Would mind if I spoke with some of your other authors?

Guh.  And naturally, I ramble.  A lot.  So asking those questions somehow mutates into me asking 100 other questions.  Plus, I’m nervous.  When I’m nervous, I talk more.  When I’m nervous, I trip over my tongue.  When I’m nervous, I talk too fast and I talk over myself.  (insert glum sigh)  So I’m just completely sure I look really impressive to prospective agents, yes?

This agent hunt is really frying my brain.  Thus more insanity on my part.  Hopefully I’ll get something settled soon, because I really, really want to see what happens with my rabbit.