Fantastic tenacity and persistence ! Which is what it takes. I went through this process, unsuccessfully, and decided to give up. I had a full time job, I was learning and creatively applying my new craft as a leadership coach, and I just decided to apply my energies in those directions. I have gone back and looked at the middle grade book that I wrote, and I still really like it. I wonder if it might really be for adults, or even just for me. I had a ton of fun writing it, and it was part of my rediscovery of myself. The push to get it recognized by others started to seem like I was missing the point of why I wrote it.