Three Kicks in the Pants

Monday was one of those trying days. I had spent a good part of Sunday sending out queries. I sent out six in total. Three with my picture book ms and three just the query alone.

Before the afternoon hit, I had one rejection. One or two sentences. Short and sweet (okay, not sweet, but not nasty). I let that one roll off me. I checked my email ten times more often. I found that I needed to find other things to do to keep myself busy.

An hour later, another rejection. This one was more in depth, but still, a rejection nonetheless. There was a little gem in that email, which I will return to later. But no matter the compliments (or suspected/hoped compliments) it was still a "no." I told myself it was to be expected. I even told myself that it was okay, I had other agents to query and that even though that agent was great, I could find more. I went back to work. I definitely needed to be distracted.

Then, thirty minutes later, the last rejection of the day came. At first, I let it roll off like the others. But I soon discovered it bothered me a lot more than I was letting on. I almost cried at work. I guess three was just my unlucky number.

I spent the night relaxing, doing nothing, playing games, ignoring my emails. Luckily, I have friends that know just the right things to say and do to help me out of my funk. I started feeling better on Tuesday, and was even able to re-look at the rejections and share them (something I've never done before) with my boyfriend.

Here's where I want others' opinions. One query seemed to have a compliment in it, but I'm afraid that it's just something everyone gets in their rejections from this agent. The agent and agency will be left out, but could you let me know what you think? (Yes, writer's need their almost-non-existent egos stroked often.)

"Thank you for your submission to Agency. However, I regret to inform you that Agent will not pursue representation. While your work certainly has merit, it simply isn't right for her list."