WiP Wednesday: The Dark, Confusing Side of Query Land

Querying a novel can be terrifying.

I have dipped my toes into the querying waters over the last couple weeks with my YA novel, Seagull Rising. Just a few agents so far. I'm taking my sweet time.

By moving slowly I'm hoping I can avoid serious blunders.

For example:
With my last book, V-Day, I was often up late sending out six or seven queries at a time. I used the excellent querytracker.net to help me stay organized, but when it's late and you're almost cross-eyed with exhaustion, sometimes you manage to mess up with even the best tools on hand.

Apparently I sent out a query to an agent but forgot to note it. So, a few days later I sent out another query to the same agent.

A couple weeks later I received this reply (paraphrased):

Dear Ms. Sonnichsen,
I have already received a query from you on (date of first query). You have queried me twice.
Sincerely,
Agent

I did not know what to do. Honestly.

I stared at the email. This was not a rejection. All she was telling me was that I had made a mistake.

I was embarrassed, and also very confused. What should I do now?

Probably a less stupid person would have junked the letter and admitted to herself that this was obviously a hand-slap and that this particular agent was not interested in seeing anything more. Because, if she had been interested, she would have said so, right?

I chose to be more hopeful than smart, and sent her a very nice reply, apologizing profusely for the mistake and asking her to pretty-please-with-sugar-on-it still consider my query.

I never received a reply. Which shouldn't have surprised me.

And, for the record, I will not be querying that agent again, because, despite my error, I thought her response was a lame way to reject someone. (Do you agree/disagree? I'd like to know.)

So, this time I'm moving slowly, trying to send out only my best, and praying for the *right* result, whether that means representation or not.

How about you? Do you have any weird query stories to share in the comments? Or, if you're not in Query Land, any weird interactions lately?