Hi all. I'm one story in to a new WIP, & I was thrilled with the progress: a fun voice, colorful characters that were coming to life for me on the page, a rich sense of place. Problem is, I didn't do all of my homework, (I was just so excited! No excuse of course, but I'm sure a few of you can empathize). As you can tell from my post title, while I was busy poring over my childhood faves, I'm only just now starting to realize what it is that I've done & in researching the market, I'm afraid I may be holding the dreaded overly-precious unsellable anthropomorphic slush puppy. Help! I'm already in love with the process & these characters. Do I fold? Children's lit is new to me (hence the rookie mistake). I've got an editor & peer review weighing in on craft, so the writing itself has merit, but is it even possible to sell an animal talkie these days? Does anyone have genre specific tips beyond "write well" & shout out to Watership Down/Charlotte's Web/something newish with talking raccoons?