I spent quite a bit of time looking through the yearbook and researching which publisers I could send my work to. Then I got excited by a big shiny advert for an agency and have cheerfully sent the introductory letter, synopsis and first thress chapters to them first. I have, however, made a slight error of judgement, I think, in putting this blog address on. If I lead every agent and publisher to this address, will they see where I have had rejections and judge me on that?
All literature on the subject of submitting your first novel as an unpublished author leads me to believe the following.
1) that I need to become accustomed to rejection and not take it personally
2) that I must be persistant and patient
3) that I must believe in myself and what I am selling (I do!!!)
4) that less than 1% of submitted manuscripts ever make it to publishing, so there is a far greater chance of rejection than of acceptance, especially for new authors.
5) that it can take weeks, if not months, for very busy agents and publishers to get back to the author with good or bad news.

All that being said, I have confidently approached said agent and will now have to wait and see. It will be weeks before I can comment on the success or failure of my first venture into the world of publishing. Meanwhile I have continued to edit and revise the rest of the manuscript, will print it all out, read and check it again and when I am happy (for now) I will start on Book 2, Albie's Story. (I might also approach 1 or 2 more agents, as patience is one thing, but it might take years for me to get through them if I just go one at a time!)