Hi everyone
After so many rejections so many I have lost count and after being rejected by all literary agents in the genre I write in. Is now the time to give up on my writing journey? Or do I carry on? As I enjoy what I do so much I love my characters and would love to see them in print and pictures.
At least you have been brave enough to submit work. Only you know if it's best to give up or not. It depends on your circumstances and reasons for writing. We all have goals and sometimes they change but it's a personal thing.
You need to be honest about why you're doing it. If it really is because you love writing/creating and you find the process cathartic, then why would you even consider stopping? If on the other hand you just want to make money or get appreciation from others then I'd say stop right now.
Have you put your work in front of knowledgeable others for constructive advice (family & friends are no good for this incidentally as they find it impossible to be impartial)? It may be that a few changes will totally improve your work, things that you, as the author, are blind to. Are the stories rather tired & hackneyed tales that have all been done to death before, however charming, and in need of a different angle & a few surprise twists? It can be something of an eye-opener to find that your creation is perceived in quite a different way to the one that you think you are presenting (you are the only person with the perfect overall picture in your mind, the one that fills in all the little blanks that don't necessarily come over in your work). If you purely want to see your stories in print, self-publishing is really quite straightforward. The marketing is hard work, assuming you would like a wider audience than your nearest & dearest, but there are plenty of sites giving advice on that point.
The competition is astronomical & the market is saturated, but if you enjoy writing why stop? Make any necessary improvements to your current stories, resubmit, and then while you're waiting on anything back from agents & publishers (a totally dispiriting process, especially regarding the ones that tell you to wait up to 6 mths before giving up hope) write something totally new. Step out of your comfort zone, challenge yourself, have fun. I'm pretty sure every single one of us has felt as you do at some stage in their writing career. Give up by all means, but if you enjoy writing keep on doing it.