Sunday, October 19, 2008

Ouch!

It came Friday in the mail. My first letter from an agent.

I'd love to tell you all that the letter was full of praise for my novel along with an offer for representation, but alas, that would be a lie.

It was a rejection . . . a form letter at that.

I knew rejections were coming. Lord knows I've racked up enough of them with my short story submissions. I thought my skin was thick, but man did it hurt to read. I'm still a bit sore.

I have a few more queries floating around out there, but this agent was my top choice. Maybe that's why it hurts so much. I was hoping to at least send in a partial manuscript before being rejected.

It's terribly overwhelming. I now see why writers jump on the first agent (good or bad) that gives them a yes. I mean, how do you know if you REALLY match with an agent or not. Not very many have blogs to follow and a surprising number don't even have websites.

Don't mind me. The pity party is just about over.

I was going to work on fixing a short story I've had tucked away, and I have another one begging to be typed out, but I'm afraid both will have to wait. With the two diaper-dwarves haunting this house, finding time to do writerly-things has become very limited. I need to do a bit more searching. See if any agents (and their limited info) reach out and grab me . . . figuratively, of course.

6 comments:

Jamie Eyberg said...

I feel for you man. Really. Have fun with the diaper dwarves (I have to remember that one.)

Cate Gardner said...

Keep subbing - it's not how many rejections you stack up along the way, it's the amazing moment when that one person says yes. It will happen. :)

Gabe said...

Thanks Jamie and Catherine. I'll try to keep my chin up.

Chris said...

I second Catherine's comment. Your time will come...

Gabe said...

I hope you're right, Chris. I've had four fast rejections right off the bat.

At this rate I'll run out of agents to submit to.

I think I'll rewrite my query letter before I send anymore out.

Chris said...

Four rejections? There are over 400 agents who rep the sort of thing you write. Seriously, any freak-out should be postponed at least until you query an eighth of them or so.