Just now, it occured to me that I don't know what "polished" means to an agent. All this time I've assumed it meant revised, revised, revised until every scene is as perfect as I feel I can make it, critiqued by several thoughtful readers and revised again based on their comments, and then proofread, possibly line-edited, by someone who isn't me.
Is this what polished means?
I hope so. Because after reading my outline in October, an agent asked to see my full "when it's polished and ready." I was upfront from the start of the exchange saying it would be February before that was anywhere near happening. (HAHAHAHAHA. February.) I'm still over a month away from my idea of "polished and ready." But that's what he wants, right? Something that's ready to submit to editors, not something that still needs work. He'd rather wait longer for me to make it as good as I can rather than get it sooner based on some non-existent deadline.
That's what I keep hoping for at least.