Getting Rejected

#agentquery #query #manuscript #workinprogress #publication

Writing a book is hard. Just think - I've been at this since December 2018. It is now May 2021, and I finally have a version of Eris Cathaway in Fairdream Kingdom ready that I am confident enough in to be ready to query agents with it.

That's two and a half years.

Two and a half years into college, I was a Junior. I'd finished all my prereqs and was focusing on the "meat and potatoes" of chemical engineering. It was time for business, after two and a half years.

So in writing my book, where did the time go?

Timeline

• Dec 2018 - Begin Book (Here follows the struggle to figure out the entire story, develop the characters, write 80,000 words.)

• September 2019 - Finish first draft. Quick through edit.

• October 2019 - Begin first BetaRead. Oh, and my second real-live child was born.

• January 2020 - After an irresistible maternity leave, get back to editing. This is where things got tough. With one toddler, her Grandma didn't mind keeping her a day a week so I could write at the coffee shop. With a toddler and a newborn, Grandma was less interested in getting involved. I had to do my editing during naptimes and bedtimes, and - oh, did I mention? - we lived in a tiny house. I had no dedicated desk, no office of my own, and no where to escape into my own brain. Getting this story edited was a slow, grinding process, until...

• January 2021 - We moved out of the tiny house and into a new, regular-sized house. One with an office, multiple tables and desks. I knew from the get-go that this was my chance for new habits, and here's the one that got this book finished: At 8 pm, after the kids' bedtime, I sat to do re-writes, edits and polishing for two hours. Every day. Even most weekends. From mid January till end of April, I finished the book. And it's good. It's really good.

So that brings us up to a little over a week ago. I spent several days agonizing over my very first query. I tend to be a rush-headlong-with-full-confidence kind of person (not unlike Eris), so slowing down and taking time to get input and (*shudder*) sleep on it were skills I had to learn after college, but I have learned them, and I know now how very important they are to quality work.

On May 2, I finished agonizing and submitted my very first query. Satisfied, I went to sleep. And less than twelve hours later, I received a ping to my inbox.

Dear Ruha,

Thank you so much for your query. I appreciate the opportunity to consider your work, but unfortunately, after careful consideration, I have decided to bow out. I am truly sorry not to be able to offer you representation, and I wish you the very best of publishing luck as you move forward.

This was literally sent to me at 6 am in the agent's time zone. Ouch! What a way to start a Monday morning. Let me know your thoughts - have you ever started your day with some Wheaties and a heaping dose of rejection?