u/Dry-Mall-3003

I'm starting a new project, and every time I start to work on it, I can feel that excited energy flourish in my chest. It's like mini, or pre-hypomania (so annoying to have to pathologize "happiness").

I'm having to take my calming meds not for anxiety (distress) but for excitement (eustress).

I'm still sleeping fine, I can stop working on the project if I want to, but this energy is alarming and feels like it wavers on the edge. I recently completed a PHP program for an especially bad episode, so I'm very, very conscious of keeping things calm and even.

Anyway, I'd like to be able to work "carefully" on the project, but it's hard to even start work on it without that *blam* of excitement.

Thoughts? How do you handle it?

I'm an author whose former literary agent quit the business, so now I need to find another one for my new manuscript.

I need help with:

- Identifying agents whose interests align with my book
- contacting those agents through QueryTracker or email

The first task would involve internet searches and detailed reading of agent descriptions, and the second would involve filling out online forms, essentially.

I am honestly not sure what rate to go for here, whether hourly or per submission? I think it would depend on efficiency. Open to negotiation. I'm not sure what the going rate here is; open to being educated on that. Somewhere between $10-20/hour?

Thanks for your consideration.