I had a PLAN
My enneagram is 9w8. According to this, I'm peace-loving, I crave harmony and balance, and I don't like change.
My Myers-Briggs is INFP. According to this, I'm calm, I don't like to make waves, and I don't like change.
My sun sign is Aquarius. According to this, I'm a fixed sign, stuck in my ways, and --
you're not going to believe this --
I DON'T LIKE CHANGE.
Â
So, I'm querying again. I've talked about my most recent YA project, My Brain On Love and Panic, which I wrote to completion at an insane rate. I've had my eye on a particular literary agency as a representation candidate for at least a year now. For multiple reasons -- both mystical and practical -- that same agency jumped out at me as an option for this book nearly four months ago.
By the time I finished my book in September, I found this agency was closed for queries and would be opening back up less than a week later. I knew my novel, which was written in 21 days, wouldn't be ready to submit in a week's time, but I was excited to send my work to them when it was ready.
Around October, I noticed the agency had updated their website with a message that said: Still Catching Up. Closed to Queries Until December 1st. I'll admit, the message took a little of the wind out of my sails, but it didn't crush me. I could be patient for a while longer, and honestly, it was probably for the best -- now I had time to find more people to critique my novel. Love & Panic would be ultra-ready by December. This was good. In the meantime, I entered a popular Twitter pitch event at the suggestion of a friend. I got some amazing feedback and even interest from an agent (who ultimately passed). Then I worked on lining up other agents in case I decided to submit to multiple at some point. I got my query letter critiqued and then revised it. I bided my time.
After many, many edits to Love & Panic, 2.5 beta readers, and some last-minute changes based on others' feedback, I was ready to chomp through my own leg to escape the chains of waiting and launch myself at that one agency I'd had my eye on for four months. Then, on November 30, right before the agency's new December 1st reopening date, they updated their site again:
Closed to queries until further notice.
I
DIED.
