Staying motivated

I started my New Year sending out queries, doubtless like thousands (if not millions) of other authors.  My process is to send out a handful at a time, more or less to test the water.  If I get flat, form letter rejections, I know I need to tweak things a bit.  Then again, the agents are likely being overwhelmed and are more likely to send those flat, form rejections. 

So far, I've received two rejections - both with form letters.  The amazing thing is the amount of time it took to get them back.  Often, it takes a month or longer to hear back on a query.  The fact that I got them both back within a day or two tells me those agents are inundated and don't want to spend the time.  On the other hand, it also shows me that I could improve my query somewhat.  I'll wait until the rest of my handful comes back, but in the meantime, I'm rethinking my query letter.

In the meantime, my new Christmas gift - my Kindle - has inspired me to put Intimate Distance on Smashwords (an e book site), so anyone interested in picking up an electronic version of that book can now buy it in multiple formats for the low, low price of $0.99!  And just to make it easier for you, here's the link Click here for Intimate Distance, the e-book.

Editing continues on my Legend People book, and I'm still excited about it, although motivation dwindles when rejections begin to float in.  The thing that pushes me on, however, is that I'm still excited about the story.  I've written six books to date.  Some of them I never even tried to market because even I didn't think they were very interesting.  A couple of them I like, but I believe they could be better, but I haven't been this sure of a story since my first one - this engaged with it.  Maybe its subjective interest - like with everything involved with this business.  Enough to keep plugging along with the mundane part of writing.  At the end of the day, if you don't believe in your writing, its hard to convince someone else to like it.  As long as I'm still interested in the story, I feel confident I can interest someone else in it - enthusiasm is contagious.  So the process continues  . . .