Successfully Completing a Novel

The title says it all. I recently finished my first novel and here I will share my attempts at getting said novel published.

I've made several futile attempts at writing a novel, but last year I actually started one and finished it. It's all about passion. I found I had a passion for the subject, so the words just flew out of my head and into the computer. (Not as lovely an image as flowing onto the paper, but you get the drift.)

It's not like I haven't been published. I've had several personal essays and short stories published, but the route to publishing a novel is quite different than publishing something short. With a short work, you still have to get the attention of someone, preferably an editor. But with a novel, not only do you have to get the attention of a publisher, there's usually an agent to deal with.

I know you can publish without an agent, but I've chosen that route. Self-publishing is not for me, so I've not even explored that avenue. I've seen too many horror stories, and I'd prefer not to even go down that road.

So now begins my task of finding an agent.

What's your experience with finding an agent? Good/Bad? (But please if you have a bad experience, don't bash the agent here. There are plenty of forums where you can do that. I'm not into name-calling.)