Generally, that doesn't happen, but the feel is there.
The funny thing is that I didn't worry about these things when I wasn't querying. I interacted with agents (various reasons) while not querying, and it was amazing. I didn't worry about how my emails sounded (other than sounding professional, but not written by a robot), and amazingly, finding agent email in my inbox didn't fill me with one part hope and three parts demon riddled anxiety. They were normal emails saying they could or could not do a thing.
My point is that all the insecurity I've been feeling lately is wondering if an agent will love my work. After publishing, I thought I had crossed some magical landscape and found myself in the valley of self confidence. Alas, that wasn't the case. Even as I'm getting super good news, I'm still struggling to feel confident in my work.
When I was first starting out, I didn't have much feedback for my work. Now I have reviews for published works to give myself a counterpoint to the inevitable rejection, but the last time I queried, I didn't have that, so I wanted to offer up some quick thoughts.
I have hundreds of requests for a sequel to my book. People FB me all the time and ask if it's going to be a thing, and I still get down about rejections.
In short, anytime you put yourself up in a situation where someone could reject you or your work, it's going to mess with your head. Your writing is probably good, maybe even great, you just haven't found your lobster. That doesn't make you a bad writer, that makes your work not what those agents are looking for right now.
Okay, I could talk about this for a very long time, but I want to know how people manage to handle the feels that come with querying. I art. (yes, I verbified it).
Also be sure to stop by the Ninja Captain Alex, and to thank this month's Cohosts: Christopher D. Votey,Madeline Mora-Summonte, Fundy Blue, and Chrys Fey!
Dealing with agents when you don't have one yet seems like it could easily lead to a nervous breakdown. That's probably why I'll wind up self-publishing. I don't need any more stress in my life. And don't even get me started about rejections.
ReplyDeleteFocus on the good news and forget the rest!
I've (self)published a few books now, but I've to find an Agent. I want one, but I want to have a level of success first before I get one. I want to show what I can do on my own, before getting an Agent involved. There are other reasons, but that is the primary one.
ReplyDeleteI think 'art' counts as noun, adjective, and verb. ^_^ As for me, I handle rejection fine; having been rejected nearly a hundred times just for one book makes one more rejection letter not a big deal. But handling querying itself caused my existential crisis earlier this year, so it's entirely debatable how well I deal with that. Gah.
ReplyDelete