Query Hell: The Brown Girl in the Ring.

I finished my novel in May. I got it back from Beta readers in June. Now August has arrived and I am querying.

My goal is to query 100 agents. Previously, I've queried very narrowly and I am seriously lucky that I got any bites at all. This time, I feel completely different about my project. I'm not hung up on having it make me JK Rowling $$$ or fame. I'm not obsessed with getting the agent who reps my favorite authors.

I just want an agent who will love my book for what it is. That means

1. No white washing my characters
2. No ironing out my characters to make them straight
3. No genre/age changing. (I'm best suited to write about adults with adult readers in mind)

It dawned on me that I could land the agent who I know represents a writer I love and they could hate my book and by hate I mean try to change the things that make my story my own. Releasing my expectations has really made the process easier. Another thing that has made this easier is moving on.

While my Beta readers had the book, I outlined another book. Now that I'm waiting to hear back from agents, I have something to do: write.

Oddly enough, my biggest fears about getting picked up is that I won't, simply because marketing a gay black female character is just too much. Especially when her story doesn't revolve around her sexuality. Isn't it funny that dragons and elves and warlocks can exist in a world but brown dykes can't? 

I'm up to 31 agents. Thankfully, there are some excellent agents clearly seeking diversity. I look forward to hearing from them.