As of today, I am proud to have submitted seventeen queries to literary agents for The Tower. It’s a giant leap across the canyon that separates having actually completed the book and pushing the book out into the universe. With each book I read from my yearly list, I find myself comparing my work to other authors and increasingly feel that The Tower is not “good enough”. It’s a bad habit, although every artist does it. Those self-deprecating thoughts are not true. That is probably the biggest hurdle with the query process. There are so many varying factors from how I’ve written the 350-word query letter itself to whether or not the agent is having a bad day. It’s easy to be discouraged. I think having a realistic idea of what is going to happen helps me. The likelihood of having your first novel published is slim to none, which puts things into good perspective. I have other stories that I plan to write, and I have no doubt that each book will improve until I develop a better sense of style. I’m not the best writer in the world, but my work is solid, and I’m sticking to it. Sure, I can continuously tweak the wording to make it better, but ultimately I have to put The Tower down. I’ve maintained to my family & friends that if just one person reads this book and finds themselves entertained, then I have accomplished my goal. And in that sense, I have completed that goal since my six beta readers all came back saying that the story was enjoyable (on top of their critical feedback). WAHOO! 🥳🥳🥳

Earlier this summer, I spent time researching and selecting literary agents to add to my query-tracking spreadsheet. I have a total of 57 people on that list so I have quite a bit more to do. One thing I’ve Iearned is that several agents are closed to queries on and off during different times of the year. Ellen Rozek tells me it’s common, especially during the summer for things to slow down before ramping back up in the fall. Good to know!

Of the seventeen queries, I’ve received three rejections so far. Most agents respond in 8-12 weeks or may never respond at all. It’s nice to have that solid response, even if it’s a rejection. As I understand it, a standard, canned response from the agents seems to be that, “the material doesn’t draw me in, and at this time, I will respectfully pass.” I’ve dipped my toe in the ocean by sticking with agents at the bottom of my list while I get a feel for the process. I plan to reach half of my list by the end of this month and then will take another break until January.

Keep calm and Query on!