Should I call an agent re: status of my submission?

My story is perhaps a bit different than others. I had an agent. Yes, had, when I graduated from school. To keep things brief (and please spare me the "why didn't yous" and "you shoul'ves" believe me, I've kicked myself over this many times over the years) let's just say that I graduated from school 9 years ago and got an agent. My novel wasn't quite finished so, between working and family commitments, I managed to finish it 9 years after I graduated. Throughout this time, I only contacted my agent one time and we were still on. Well, when I finally finished my novel I was uncertain as to whether I still had an agent or not. I flew to NYC (I live in the West Coast) to see her and I did. Feeling very embarrassed I re-introduced myself. Surprisingly, she recognized me and asked what had happened to me. In short, I told her that I should've kept in touch but didn't but that all those years I had been writing. This was October 2004 when I went to see her. I was still tweaking with my novel so I had removed about 20% of the novel and I brought with me the remaining. She was very kind with me, reassuring me that I was not the first, nor would I be the last, writer to disappear. "That's what writers do," she said to me. Like I said, all along she was very kind; she never made me feel uncomfortable. I told her I could leave with her the 80% of my novel I had with me but she said "No, give it to me when you have it all." I left NYC feeling better. It appeared I no longer had an agent but I wasn't out in the streets--so to spead--either. Fast forward 6 months later, the end of April (last week to be exact), when I finally sent her the completed novel. She's had it with her approximately one week. In my situation, do you think it is wise to call her to ask for status update or should I just sit back and let her get back to me at her convenience? Thanks a lot.

So it seems that, as long as I just called to ask if the ms was received and not about the status of my submission then I won't seem like a pest. That's really all I wanted to know, if the agent received what I sent to her. In any case, if I call, I'll probably get her assistant.

Funny, at the same time you guys were responding to my post, they were turning me down. Actually, the agent I had spoken with passed it on on her assistant who just turned me down because even though he "found the premise to be interesting, and [he's] always looking for a novel that incorporates Latin America, [he] just wasn't enamored enough with the writing to take this project on. [He's] sure [I'll] find another home for this and wish[es me] much success in doing so."

So that's that. Oh well, at least she remembered me enough to pass my novel onto an assistant.

hunterwoman75 said:

So sorry to hear the bad news. Something that you may want to try, I don't know if you have or not is to have a freelance editor edit your work. I use one all them and she's great.

have a great day,

Hunterwoman75

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It's funny hunterwoman, up until the agent rejected me I felt very confident (not overconfident or cocky) that the novel was finished. When I received the rejection I began questioning myself. What if I was just fooling myself into thinking that it was finished when in fact the novel needed more work? Is it common to question oneself after a rejection from an agent? How does one know when one's novel is finished? I thought I knew but now I am a pile of self-doubt. I look at editors with a bit of disdain (although in the process of writing my novel I wished I had had someone to look it over). I am paying them to look at my novel but then can I trust them to be honest or are they just after my money? What I mean about this is, let's say my novel is done, will the editor tell me so or will he/she tell me the novel needs more work just to drain some more money from me? I am willing to pay, but how do you find a very, very, very honest and good editor? Thanks.