Back in the saddle

[ChristineF]

Jessica is right...I have friends that literally sent out 100's of queries on mulitple novels before landing an agent...and thngs have been good for them since then.  Look at some ofthe HUGE novelists out there making HUGE $$$ (Jim Butcher, James Patterson etc) - they were rejected hundreds of times before getting an agent.

Hang in there - keep writing, keep learning and it will eventually happen.  And lik most people will tell you - work another job to keep money coming in.  THis is not lucerative for a while :D

[isinglass]

There are no more agents to try. Those were the last five. I forget what the total was, but it was well over 100.

Work another job?!? That's what I've been trying to do for the last two years! I thought I mentioned it, but ever since getting laid off at the start of the Great Recession, I've been desperately looking for work. The stress of not knowing where my next mortgage payment is coming from is trashing my health.

And to add to the examples, of course, there is Jo Rowling, who was on the dole and writing stories in coffeeshops before a small publisher finally picked up Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. 

[violet]

Isinglass-

I know you said you posted your query but I looked and couldn't find it. Please post or PM with it...I'll try to help.

If you truly believe in your ms, rework your query--and change the title. Agents get too many queries to think, "Hey, I already read this." (Provided you didn't just query them in the last few weeks) When I first started querying, my query was El Sucko...but when I got it to where I wanted it, I changed the title, requeried and got many requests from agents who R'd me the first time around.

[Coldfeet]

Isinglass,

I'm not much help on the job front, though I do know what living with continual stress feels like and I'd not wish it on anyone.  If you need an extra reader for either query or ms I'd be happy to offer my eyes as well.  I'm thorough and (hopefully) constructive.  If you reach a point that you want a new reader please don't hesitate to PM me.

CF

[isinglass]

Coldfeet, thanks. I'll keep you in mind. I have a couple other novels that need to be finished. I'm a little concerned because my next three novels are part of a series, and I'm going to be working on the fourth one this November during Nanowrimo. If the first book of the series tanks as badly as this current novel, the next three are basically worthless. But I like the stories and the characters, and I'm going to try to ignore the fact that I don't seem to be a very good writer and work on finishing them.

Still no response from those last five agents, and no response from the last five day jobs I applied for. The economic news keeps getting worse, and now my mortgage company is calling me. I've been putting off calling them back, because I want to tell them that I have a job. I'm afraid that if they find out I don't have a steady income they'll take my house away from me, even though I've been making my mortgage payments on time for the past nine months. You'd think that would count for something, but anymore I just don't know.

[laurabdiamond]

Isinglass,

I hear your pain, things have been tough for you to say the least. I am worried for you.

I hope that you have a strong support network to help you through it!!!!

Don't give up hope!

You'll be in my prayers, I hope that's helpful, for my part anyway.

Laura D

[Steph Campbell]

I agree with Violet, perhaps reposting the query may help. Maybe  a few little tweaks will make it perfect.
Have you received any requests off of the query? Did you have a beta reader for your novel?
I def understand your frustration, I am about to shelve my first novel and just concentrate on my WIP. I don't want to give up, but I am doubting that it is "the one", even if I do like it a lot...
Hang in there,
Steph