Usually, with a wink I tell people that with the caveat “if you are alone, your house is probably haunted”. But seriously, if you keep trying something that keeps not working, perhaps it’s time to try something else.
I wrote a children’s story a while back that is, no surprise, Halloween based. I picked a few agents and off it went. The protagonist is a cranky older kitty that really just wants to take a nap. I can identify. She lives with an overly energetic, and underly sized terrier and their human family. With a young, red-headed princessesque human girl very excited to dress up her kitty for Trick-or-Treating, that nap is going to be tough.
Those of you why have attempted trad-publishing know that it’s rough. Many queries are met with a polite “No, thank you. It just isn’t a good fit.” I’m sure these are actually an email template to save agents and publishers the two seconds it takes to type those few words. Some queries are met with the dreaded silence. Yes, folks, no response is actually a response. One lady did take the time to craft a personalized response. Joy! She suggested I start Bean’s debut with something more generic, as holiday themed stories have a short run time.
So I did. “Just Call Me Bean” was written. And rewritten. And again. I tried, but it just wasn’t working. I have come to the conclusion that my calico kitten (dubbed the Halloween cat) didn’t belong anywhere else. She’s like Wednesday Addams. I’ve decided to scrap the “normal” intro and revisit “Bean Saves Halloween”.
Trudge on!
Julie M Anderson 