I did it.

It's official now: I'm a girl with an agent. The reality is slowly sinking in, and it feels really good.

Thank you, everyone, for all the kind words and good thoughts. As the shock subsided over the last few days, I've been feeling more and more excited about what these rewrites will mean for my book, which I do think is going to get better and stronger. (And also more saleable, which is just gravy.) The amount of work ahead is still a little nausea-inducing, but as days go by the nausea has been fading and the excitement growing. I'm buzzing with ideas and plans. And knowing that, when I finish this revision, there's someone standing by to deal with all the business stuff for me so that I don't have to worry about it -- well, that's a lovely thing.

And now it seems I have a great deal of work to do. Holy cow. I'm running and playing with the real writers now...