It’s Nothing Personal

Welcome back!

Let’s talk about the massive, ill-behaved, elephant in the room, shall we? I’m talking about the query monster, of course.

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If you follow literary agents on social media, you’ll hear the same thing over and over again: “It’s nothing personal.”

When you’ve poured your heart into something that you’re deeply proud of, it can be nearly impossible not to take rejection personally. But agents aren’t lying to you. It really isn’t personal.

Agents receive hundreds, sometimes thousands, of queries during windows where they’re open for submissions. In an ideal world, every manuscript would be perfectly packaged and agents would want to sign everyone.

And they still wouldn’t be able to.

It’s nothing personal.

I am deep in the querying trenches myself and have lost track of the exact number of queries I’ve sent—and the subsequent rejections. I try to stay positive, and most of the time I succeed.

I know that my novel is good. I have had extremely positive feedback from beta readers, and I truly believe one day it will be published, one way or another.

Still, on a particularly rejection-heavy day, it can get to me.

I was having one such day last week when I came across a comment on a video on Instagram that has stuck with me. It wasn’t posted on my video or even directed at me, but it was exactly what I needed to hear that day.

It said: “You’re living my dream! You finished a novel!”

It is easy to forget that most people never write a novel.

Finishing one is an incredible accomplishment, whether you’re traditionally published, agented, deep in the query trenches, or writing purely for your own enjoyment with no intention to publish at all.

You are doing something amazing that most people will never attempt.

And that alone is something to be proud of.

Now and always!

With love and optimism,

That One Girl Who Writes