Denied

Remember how a month or so ago, I mentioned my new found life path of writing? Well, I must say that this road to hopeful publication and potential success is a bumpy one at best. Though I'd love to be published, writing the book is much more enjoyable than finding an agent. In fact, I have three more books on the bench and a sequel to my current baby already in the makes. But I must say that entering the treacherous world of publishing has become one of the most interesting things I've ever done. Perhaps I should stray backwards a bit. 'Publishing' is too strong a word. I will go with querying, as this is the obvious first step should you choose to not self-publish. To those less savvy to the writing world, (i.e. my family and friends) they assume that you can e-mail a random mildly famous writer and make a connection that will lead you to the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. (Sorry. It's St. Patrick's Day. Had to reference.) The pot of gold is obviously a contract with an agent and more unlikely, this can not be. So last year I began querying. My first query letter was terrible. I admit this fully and spent weeks perfecting it. That's the point in which I started fishing again for agents in hopes of one little nibble. Alas, but not a one has taken my bait...yet. I recently received another denial bumping my number of rejections to thirteen. Nevertheless, as I wake up every morning and check my e-mail, I find myself fighting back the flutters in my stomach. I call those flutters my hopeful butterflies. When I see that beautiful subject line that begins with 'RE: Query...', I swear I do a mental back-flip before opening it. I usually get away with reading it two or three times before I send it to the 'denial' folder in my mailbox. I check that agent off of the mammoth list of agencies and try, try, try again. The question I ask myself is this: How many rejections does it take when fishing for an agent to realize that perhaps it's not my fishing style, but rather the bait that is bad? Here's hoping for agent number fourteen...