A very good writer met with a very good agent at a summer conference, and agent invited a submission. And not just any old submission–a requested submission. For many of us that’s like winning the Golden Ticket.Except when we’re too scared to cash it in.

By the time the writer has sent in the requested material, the agent has died of old age or the publishing industry has imploded (again!). What’s a writer to do?

Writer’s beloved critique group says her manuscript just needs a nip here, a tuck there. All her friends have read her book and are hoping she remembers them when Writer gets that huge advance. Sure they’ve all been waiting twenty-some-odd years, but who’s counting?

Writer promises to send off her submission–hit send and pray–just as soon as she: 1) rewrites her synopsis 2) gets the feedback from one more reader or 3) tears the whole darned book apart and reconstructs for the 37th time. Really, she’s this close.

Miss Crankypants knows a bit about Submissionophobia. One of my friends once told me I was like the man who got on his donkey and rode off in all directions. I just couldn’t stop fiddling. Go have your novel blessed, have a pro editor read or put all your writer friends’ suggestion into a hat and pick one. But trust me, if you don’t have the will to send your poor naked starving baby out into the cold, you’ll never make it. Get that thing polished to the best you have to offer and HIT SEND.