No, it's cricket season
If you listen closely, the crickets are chirping Jingle Bells, but they're all off key so you have to listen
really hard.
I've also found that my response rate is through the floor in December. I still had nine out come Thanksgiving. I've had one come back in the intervening month, and that was a requested partial from early November. I still have eight out. Haven't heard a peep, and don't really expect to until sometime in January.
A number of agent blogs have had articles saying that the holidays are the worst time of year to find an agent. I tend to agree with them. When I queried my first project, I made the mistake of querying in December. I got one response as late as the following May, when the agent was catching up on her paperwork. Others trickled in at much slower than normal rates. Worse, even the agents who
are working are dealing with the holidays themselves. Many have kids at home, presents to wrap, New Years to worry about, etc. That's not when I want to land on an agent's desk, when they're harried from the season's fesitivities. Now I put myself on hiatus the week before Thanksgiving and won't start querying again until the second weekend of January, much as I hate taking the time off.
Take the time to work on your projects, polish the ol' query letter, and just wait it out. Think of it as an enforced vacation
