How Do I Know What I Think Until I See What I Say?

There's been a lot of discussion lately about the dire state of the publishing industry. (For example, see Maya Reynolds' always-useful summaries here , and Nathan Bransford's imploring here ). Apparently, like the auto industry and the banking industry and the real estate market and retail industry and pretty much every other profession you can think of (except, of course, for funeral homes), the publishing industry is seeing declining sales as people try to keep more of their money in their pockets. These are hard times economically for a lot of people, and that blows. But I don't really care. Or...that's not exactly right. I care. I wish people were doing great and, as relates to the publishing industry, I wish people were buying lots of books. Tons. Scads . What I mean is, despite the fact that I just got an agent and haven't made a first sale yet, and despite the fact that, in a market that's turning downward sales might be harder to make and advances a