Hi Sandbox, I can really relate to all that and I'm sorry to hear that you too have had a rough time of it with all the hopes followed by disappointments. As you say, there are so many factors that determine whether a book gets picked up or not and ultimately all we can do is write the best novel we can and hope the rest falls into place. And accept that things may not happen as we want and ask ourselves is a life with writing still better than a life without? As long as the answer is yes, I guess we we go again.....