[Before I begin…for those interested, here’s my query! And the first 250 words! And the title! I didn’t “win” this contest, but I made it to the top 25 which is awesome in itself. I’d love to hear what you all think.]
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Querying. Is. Hard.
I knew it would be – every writer does – but I wasn’t prepared for it to be as engrossing as writing the actual book. I’ve been rejected a few times already, which is fine. I’m still going, still processing, still sending queries out. But like I said – it’s hard.
I think my biggest problem is second guessing myself. It’s smart to query agents who represent what you write. It’s smart to target those who have worked with similar books. But there’s still that…on a pedestal feeling, I suppose. I find an agent who represents YA contemporary romance. I look at their client list. I find authors I love. And then I feel…not worthy. As if my book doesn’t compare at all to those other books. As if it’s not as good.
Of course I shouldn’t feel that way, but sometimes it happens and I just skip that agent. When I shouldn’t. I should send them an email because, really, what’s the worse that could happen? I receive another rejection? Fine!
It’s easy to second guess. It’s much harder pushing through. So, today I’m doing just that. I’m querying those agents who represent similar books that I love. And perhaps I’ll be rejected, but that’s completely fine. At least I tried, right?
What are some things you’ve second guessed yourself about? And how did you power through?
Lauren Gibaldi 
I find it hard to believe that nobody commented about this. Maybe they haven’t queried yet.
I completely understand where you were coming from. I was in over my head at first, but I learned from my experiences. We all should. My first query was horrible, but I thought it was good. I was inexperienced, a bit naive, and nervous as hell. I went ahead and sent four queries out anyway. You get to a point in your writing where you have to cross that line and see what you’re made of. Turns out I was made of rejections! But one rejection was a lovely no thank you and the agent’s reasons why. That rejection was worth one hundred rejections. It gave me something to identify and work toward fixing.
If you want to be published, you have to get past your comfort zone and put your work and yourself out there. You can’t hold back. Fortune favors the bold. Would you rather spend your days wondering what could have happened, or know that you gave it your all? If you push through, you’re that much closer to your dreams coming true.
I 1,000% agree with you! It’s ALL about pushing through. It’s all about accepting the rejections and moving on. Because maybe you weren’t perfect for that agent…but there are always other options. I think this is why it’s so hard for some people. The fear of rejection. The inability to cross the line and push through. Writers are a lot stronger than many think. 😉