Done! The End!!

I did it!  I wrote The End on the novel I have been writing for far too long. 
My goal was to finish in 2011 and I finished the edits and sent it out to my patient critique group just before midnight New Year's Eve. Aren't deadlines wonderful!
I went back and checked the computer and my first meandering attempts at this story about Greenland were written in the fall of 2008.  If I had known it would take so long, I'm not sure I could have stuck with it.
But here I am ...done.  At least with a good- almost second draft. I have been reworking it along the way as my critique group has given me feedback- not exactly the easiest process, but it seemed to work for me.  I think I needed the feedback to help me focus and give me confidence to keep moving forward.
Now comes the next stage - sending it out.  I have been stalling for a good month - writing an Author's Note -that is needed to really understand how much the story is rooted in history - and a good query letter.
Stalling...  But finally, I just did it - spent a whole afternoon personalizing my query and hitting that send button.  Started with 8 agents - the ones I would swoon over and sweat nervously if I was in the same room.  Now I'm supposed to start something new and not check my e-mail every hour.  Right!  This is a very strange profession.