In the span of five minutes, I just finished Silver Linings Playbook for the first time and got a rejection on a full that I had some moderate hopes on. Now all these feels are twisting inside of me. SLP has got to be one of the most accurate portrayals of mental illness and letting go and finding love again that I've ever seen. And that rejection kind of made me down for a moment. Which reminded me of the reason why I usually don't place any expectations on queries or partials or fulls because it would be downright pointless to feel this way 40 times over.
The sting is fading now and I'm still basking in the awesomeness of the movie. It definitely deserved its Oscar. Now back to the query board for me :)
What movies have really touched you/changed your perspective on life? (Please answer! I'm trying to catch up on movies this summer :D)
Showing posts with label rejection. Show all posts
Showing posts with label rejection. Show all posts
Friday, June 14, 2013
Sunday, April 14, 2013
Querying: Magic Numbers
I love Query Tracker. It's like excel for querying.
As of this moment, I have 9 queries out. 4 agents were speedy with their form rejections. I really appreciate the speedy ones because if there's anything that makes me all fuzzy and itchy on the inside in a bad way, it's not knowing. I am an inherent pessimist at heart, so I can honestly say that I'm not upset by any of the rejections, even the ones from agents whom I really admire. I had already braced myself for rejection**
**Not promoting this as a great philosophy of life. Please don't be a pessimist :)
What I am worried about is the Magic Number. Call me stupid, but I'm convinced that such a thing exists. That number that tells you to step back. That number that makes you start doubting the quality of your query or your MS. That rejection after sending out a full (I have yet to send mine. I know, I should get on it) that makes you seriously consider whether or not you should revise...again.
There's a number floating around: 10%. Apparently, if you are getting a 10% request rate, you can relax and pat yourself on the back for being on the right track.
But if not, then what?
The average number of queries before getting a request is 65.
But if not, then what? What if I hit 100 queries? What do I do then?
I guess my point is that these numbers scare me. Maybe they actually mean something. After all, there are so many writers out there and so many bits of data about rejection rates and number of queries sent and whatnot that these number MUST hold some validity.
At the same time, I'm a writer, not a mathematician :D
Do you ever worry about the number of request you get in relation to the number of queries you have sent?
As of this moment, I have 9 queries out. 4 agents were speedy with their form rejections. I really appreciate the speedy ones because if there's anything that makes me all fuzzy and itchy on the inside in a bad way, it's not knowing. I am an inherent pessimist at heart, so I can honestly say that I'm not upset by any of the rejections, even the ones from agents whom I really admire. I had already braced myself for rejection**
**Not promoting this as a great philosophy of life. Please don't be a pessimist :)
What I am worried about is the Magic Number. Call me stupid, but I'm convinced that such a thing exists. That number that tells you to step back. That number that makes you start doubting the quality of your query or your MS. That rejection after sending out a full (I have yet to send mine. I know, I should get on it) that makes you seriously consider whether or not you should revise...again.
There's a number floating around: 10%. Apparently, if you are getting a 10% request rate, you can relax and pat yourself on the back for being on the right track.
But if not, then what?
The average number of queries before getting a request is 65.
But if not, then what? What if I hit 100 queries? What do I do then?
I guess my point is that these numbers scare me. Maybe they actually mean something. After all, there are so many writers out there and so many bits of data about rejection rates and number of queries sent and whatnot that these number MUST hold some validity.
At the same time, I'm a writer, not a mathematician :D
Do you ever worry about the number of request you get in relation to the number of queries you have sent?
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