I actually felt this way about my first novel, because I'd just come back from having cancer and was feeling the truth of mortality--that's why I started my querying process with the small presses, rather than with agents. Since then, I've had folks suggest to me (or maybe this is my own projection) that I could have aimed higher, and maybe I could have. I suppose my attitude with my current WIP is that I will query agents, because with both an anthology and a novel out, I don't quite feel the same need to publish ASAP.
The thing I think is the worst is when a writer who's had their heart set on a literary career gives up because they didn't find an agent, or that agent couldn't sell their book. There are way too many other (good!) options! Life is too short to let gatekeepers kill your dreams.
I actually felt this way about my first novel, because I'd just come back from having cancer and was feeling the truth of mortality--that's why I started my querying process with the small presses, rather than with agents. Since then, I've had folks suggest to me (or maybe this is my own projection) that I could have aimed higher, and maybe I could have. I suppose my attitude with my current WIP is that I will query agents, because with both an anthology and a novel out, I don't quite feel the same need to publish ASAP.
The thing I think is the worst is when a writer who's had their heart set on a literary career gives up because they didn't find an agent, or that agent couldn't sell their book. There are way too many other (good!) options! Life is too short to let gatekeepers kill your dreams.
Two previously agented books which didn't sell. Now with this new WIP I'm not hot to get another agent. But neither am I ready to pay to publish.