Does anyone else feel this way?

Is it paranoia if they really are out to get you?

Seriously, yes, it sucks and I'm sorry. *passes chocolate* I've trunked four novels (well, technically, I still have fulls our on two of them, but I've stopped querying because they're as good as dead). I'd like to say it gets easier with each one, but it doesn't. My doubts about my ability to ever write something worth reading just increase.

But there's no point giving in to the paranoia. It's not over until the last R comes back, so hang in there! The last query you send could be the one. And if it's not, you write something else and let the nail biting commence once more. Good luck!

Does anyone else feel like this?

Oh, yeah. Getting down to the end of your list of agents is such a yukky feeling. Especially if you've gotten a few nibbles, a few requests for partials or fulls, so you know you're not completely incompetent, and maybe if there were only twenty or thirty more people you could query, you'd find the one....

Ink Wench is right. All you can do is keep working. Keep learning, honing your skills, searching for that idea that will grab them all by the short hairs and finally open that door....

Good luck! And don't give up!

It's also worth noting that I had sent 85 queries and had only 22 prospects left to query, when agent #42 requested the full. Two weeks later he called and offered.

Of course, this is my 5th book and the 2nd one that I seriously queried. So sometimes you do have to walk away from a project. I feel for you.

Epic Fail...?

I get a lot of rejections, actually. a lot more than I'd like ^_^' so my advice is just to keep at it, you know? don't give up!

"That's very nice if they want to publish you, but don't pay too much attention to it. It will toss you away. Just continue to write."
Natalie Goldberg

I try to follow that quote when I start getting discouraged.

Great quote. I heart Natalie Goldberg so much

LittleFlowerLei said:

I get a lot of rejections, actually. a lot more than I'd like ^_^' so my advice is just to keep at it, you know? don't give up!

"That's very nice if they want to publish you, but don't pay too much attention to it. It will toss you away. Just continue to write."
Natalie Goldberg

I try to follow that quote when I start getting discouraged.

Click to expand...

It's never over as long as you're still writing, still producing new work to query. I'd estimate I have about 200 rejections from the first 3 works I queried. For the fourth I got about a dozen rejections before I got an agent.

Yeah, I hate to hear any door bang shut. But then I slip a thank-you-for-your-response note under that door and move on to the next.

I've found I feel a lot better when I send these TY notes. They're just a few handwritten lines on little notecards, but they seem to me to complete a circle of communication. Besides, I like to encourage the agents who respond, let them know that this effort is appreciated, whether it's a form rejection or a note dashed on the query letter itself or a longer comment.

Silence presses on the eardrums so.