agentology

This week, my literary agent, Faye Bender, will start pitching my new book proposal to publishers. I'm feeling very relaxed and positive about it, which is a switch from the way I felt when my old agent would take a project out. She was so hard to get in touch with and so intimidating, that I felt really stressed about the whole thing. She was (and is) an excellent agent, but just not the right fit for me.

Faye, who became my new agent a few months ago, is the opposite. She's the bomb. She represents some other authors I particularly like, including Ariel Gore, so I thought she would be a good fit for me and I was right.

I dreaded the idea of switching agents for faaaaar too long. Now I really wish I had done it sooner. So here's some unsolicited advice for all you writers out there: get an agent who "gets" what you are all about-- your writing and voice and audience. Don't stick with an agent just because it seems too logistically or emotionally hard to switch.

Having an agent who is so good really makes it easier for me to just concentrate on doing good work instead of whether the work will sell.

Of course, I hope this project does sell ;-)