April 2022 Musings

Querying Quandary 

April 2022 Musings
Querying Quandary 

   Happy April everyone! And happy spring as well! If you are here because you are a writer, I hope that the beautiful sunshine and longer days have been inspiring for you. If you are a reader, I hope you have found a sunny spot to curl up in with a book you love. I have been writing and revising every day. Oddly enough, I haven’t been querying much this month, but I have been musing on it more than ever. When I think about my writing journey from my first agent query to now, I find a close parallel in falling in love or beginning an exciting new relationship juxtaposed with the same relationship when the euphoria wears off and the hard times begin.
     You know that thrilling, dizzying feeling you have when you fall in love, when you are still so sure it was meant to be? I felt that way about my first novel manuscript. I don’t remember having any doubt in my mind that it would be published- in fact, I sent the barely edited first draft in a query to a successful agent at an established literary agency and then innocently waited for her to get back to me with an offer! I sent another woefully unready young adult manuscript to my dream agent. I read an interview where he said that there was no such thing as a dream agent, but I didn’t believe him because he was my dream agent. Confusing? Definitely. A quandary? Always. But it was so much fun! The breathlessly hitting send on a query and then waiting for the replies felt remarkably like the adrenaline rush you get when you are waiting to hear back from someone you are in love with. In those first stages of trying to become published, the real world fades away and you live in your own little writing reality, just like when you are in love and nothing else seems to matter. It’s a wonderful, heady time, and I do miss it!
     So there you are, wandering around in your writing daze, researching agents (so sure that their manuscript wish lists sound uncannily like your manuscript), sending queries, checking your email constantly, when…BAM! Yep, you get your first rejection. And then another and another. It never gets easier, and it always feels like someone just stomped around on your heart. The doubts set in, and the fear. Now the falling in love feeling is replaced by frustration and even anger, and your new relationship with the publishing world becomes more complicated. It’s a similar feeling to realizing as a relationship progresses that the person you love is not perfect all of the time. Real life begins to slowly intrude on your consciousness again, and it’s not always pleasant. In fact, the pain can get even worse as query rejections become rejections on full manuscripts. The only thing to do at this point is persevere. Just as when you are having relationship problems you can seek counseling, when you are having problems in your publishing journey you can find help from others. Query critiques are extremely helpful, as is support from other writers like the Writing Community on Twitter.
     If you are a writer who understands my publishing journey/love affair analogy, maybe even too well, then what I wish for you is that you get your Happily Ever After in the end. An HEA may be different for every writer. Maybe you will begin a new WIP and feel that first flush of new love again. Maybe you will find the best news in an email and receive an offer of representation from an agent who believes in you. Maybe you will decide to self-publish and love it. My hope is that this will be the month you get good news- whatever that means for you!

                                                                                     Love,
                                                                                        Stac