Querying my novels was always so demoralizing. I queried three and I believe I received one full request. That one did not turn out well. Reading between the lines of the agent's response, I intuited that I was a bad writer. I almost quit writing completely.
Now that I've shifted my focus to novellas, agents no longer hold power over my psyche, because there aren't any agents to query. I am so much happier. Yes, there are a few (a very few) publishers that accept novella submission, and yes, I tried one once (old habits die hard). Now I've dispensed with all that.
I write, I publish.
Through self-publishing I've also learned an important lesson. I have to view this as a business. That's not to say that I don't put maximum effort into my writing; I do. Bur once a story is complete and edited, I don't agonize over it. Readers will either like it or they won't. And I won't have to deal with an agent metaphorically wagging her finger at me, chastising me that I'm not good enough.
Now that I have a semi-decent body of work, I'm even more motivated to keep going.
And I won't dread checking my email.
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