Should I just...?

There comes a time--at least for me--when the question arises of whether a project should just be tossed out.  Is what I have been working on for years simply been a waste of time?  Do I even have any talent?  No agents are responding positively to my queries, not even to request partials.  So what am I doing wrong?

But it can't possibly be me!  I know what I'm doing.  I did so well in college and my professors knew I would take my writing somewhere wonderful.  Clearly, those in the publishing industry don't know what they're doing.

WAKE UP!!

We can curse the publishing business until we're blue in the face, but honestly, the hard-working literary agents actually DO know what they are doing.

I'm not saying that a few books can't slip through the cracks and turn out to be the next "big thing," but these men and women are fairly intuitive when it comes to what will sell and what won't.  And always remember: even if one agent doesn't like your work, it does not necessarily mean the story or the writing is poor, just that the agents didn't feel strongly about the project.

But eventually--after several dozen NOs--you'll start to wonder if you aren't so good.

Even if your first novel--or second or third--didn't become the success you had hoped, the project was certainly not a waste of time.  Every time a writer picks up a pen (or more than likely, turns on the computer) and takes another stab at writing, that person becomes just a little bit better.  Each failure teaches us something new.  I'm going to quote Meet the Robinsons here when I say, "From failing, you learn. From Success, not so much." 

It is so true that when we succeed immediately, we can't have a true understanding of why we had such an achievement.  From failure, those who are truly dedicated to their craft will work harder than ever, determined to get better, to show that they won't be kept down by negativity. Writers need thick skin and it is all the people standing in the way from creating your masterpiece to getting it out into the world who will prepare you for the judgement that will surely come from the public.

Sometimes we must scrap a first attempt.  The chances of a first novel attempt (or poem or short story or whatever) becoming the project that is recognized are very unlikely.  An artist knows when to put something aside.  Maybe you can go back to the novel in a few years' time, but for now, start something new.  Take yourself into another world for a few months.

And if you are really stubborn *Ahem* (certainly not me), you look into self-publishing as someone I know *Cough Cough* did with her novel, The Finding.