I have had quite a few rejections. I knew it was a tough business, but didn't think it would be so tough. At the moment, I feel a bit silly to keep trying to find an agent. Do I give up and try another genre (although I love to write for children) or do I keep going? When is enough, is enough?
Until you've had your 122nd rejection, keep sending it!
But write other stuff while you're waiting.
Hey, Deborah!
If it's what you want to do, if "The best thing was how much I enjoyed what I was doing. The best thing is the fun things the characters get up to as they are often silly causing mayhem. I love all the characters like they were my little babies" [from your profile], you do NOT give up.
Here's a quote from a web-site I found by Googling after reading your question:
Pirsig's manuscript attempts to understand the true meaning of life. By the time it was finally published in 1974, the book had been turned down 121 times. The editor who finally published Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance said of Pirsig's book, "It forced me to decide what I was in publishing for."
121 rejections... for a masterpiece, a LEGEND. This book is one of my top 99 books of all time. What would have become of me if Pirsig had given up?
Dune by Frank Herbert was rejected by 23 publishers before being accepted by Chilton, a small Philadelphia publisher. Although not MY favourite, it has been voted best science fiction novel of all time - by a wide difference to 2nd place - by SciFi die-hards.
If you haven't heard of these 2, there are some in this list that you MUST have heard of (and you'll be astounded that they're on there):
http://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/arts/literature/14-best-selling-books-repeatedly-rejected-by-publishers.htm
And - on another web-site, "an extenstive collection of the some of the biggest errors of judgement in publishing history", http://www.literaryrejections.com/best-sellers-initially-rejected/ - here's somebody from our own genre:
“Too different from other juveniles on the market to warrant its selling.” A rejection letter sent to Dr Seuss. 300 million sales and the 9th best-selling fiction author of all time.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Have you shared your writing here on W&A? If so, give us a link. If not, do so, THEN give us a link.
I can't promise anything, but if you comply to the conditions on http://la-granota.com/crazy.htm, you might consider that we're a better alternative to throwing your stuff in the bin. (Which you'd never do. If your grandchildren are the only people ever to see your work, it'll still have been worth it.) “Too different from other juveniles on the market" is JUST what we're looking for.
And even if we don't like it, a piece of advice: In your profile I found 2 interesting sentences:
a) After recovering from a serious illness, collage became part of the road of recovery.
b) But I am unable to offer the full package, as I cannot illustrate.
So why not illustrate with collages??? You'd have to make sure that you're not using any copyright material, but that shouldn't be TOO difficult.
I look forward to your reply.
You've worked hard and invested a lot of time on your novel. Don't discard it. There are other options. You can self-publish or try a publisher. Some do take unsolicited manuscripts. Harpercollins have an online only thing where they read everything sent to them, and if they think its good enough, they'll edit it, do a cover and release it online.
You can do the above while you start work on your next piece.