It's about that time in my query process when I start to lose hope. I've sent out 34 and have received 12 rejections. In the scheme of things, that's not a huge amount of queries to send out. It's barely scratching the surface. However, there aren't a lot of agents who deal with my genre (YA paranormal fantasy), so I don't have hundreds of people to query.
I'm really trying not to let this get me down. In fact, I'm trying to immerse myself in my research and focus on the nonfiction book. That is going really well, by the way. Chapter 1 is fleshing out nicely, and I have interviews, books, and movies lined up for the rest of the book. I have a clear plan laid out in front of me, and that makes me very happy.
But at the same time, I feel guilty for "neglecting" The Appeal of Evil. I feel like I should be doing so much more to get it out into the world and into the hands of readers. Then, I remind myself that I still have a month or so before I hear from the most recent agents I sent my query to. While I'm not overly optimistic, it at least gives me some time before I need to make a decision about what to do next.
On top of that, remember when I told you about the webinar I took? Well, when I queried Jim McCarthy, I told him I had taken the course and how much I appreciated his insight. He said he would be more than happy to critique my query letter and first 500 words. I'm waiting to hear back from him so I can tweak the letter and send it out to a few more agents. That made me Snoopy dance. It still might not land me an agent, but at least I tried.
I'm not trying to be a downer when I say I'm losing hope. If an agent doesn't want the book, that's fine. I have tons of other options. I need to let the guilt go and remind myself that it's all right if the book doesn't have a home while I work on something else. I don't have to have closure to move on. It will come in time!
