56.2.3-> 64 Querying Agents for a Project

[mulberry]

Hi all,

This week I'm finally ready to start querying book agents for a project I've been working on for several years. I have a background in the publishing business which has made me feel relatively calm about the whole process. Yet, I'm still having lingering doubts and uncertainties, and moments of deep self-doubt.

Tonight I asked, "What do I need to know as I start querying agents this week?" and received 56.2.3. Ahhh! The Wanderer is certainly the hexagram I dread most, and 56.3 the worst line in the whole of the book (just my personal feeling, anyway...but I've feared this line for over a decade, ever since I was a teenager and first was introduced to Yi).

Frankly, this feels like a rather ominous reading. I haven't received 56 in several years, either, which has it packing an extra punch. My past experiences with 56 I don't remember very clearly, but are all associated with tumultuous earlier years of my life.

It's especially frustrating to get #3 because I've tried very hard to remain on good terms with some of my old colleagues who could recommend me...and all have agreed to do so. I'm hesitating to contact one, but only because she occupies my previous position at my old job, and I don't want to put her in a funny position since I will not be approaching my boss during this process-- at the same time I very much want to approach this woman as she previously worked for someone who would be my top choice. (My ex-boss doesn't represent the type of book I'm querying anyway, so I don't think there should be hurt feelings...but you never know.)

I'm trying to focus on line 2, which is really quite positive, but 3 keeps giving me a queasy feeling.

Thoughts, anyone? What do you think this means in terms of what my actions should be? Maybe I have been too cavalier about the whole process and it will actually turn out to be quite tough. :bag: I'm feeling quite wracked with nerves.

Thank you all!

 

[mulberry]

Actually, I'm starting to calm down a little after the first scare from line 3 (which really does raise the hair on my arms!), and giving equal attention to line 2, which actually seems very auspicious when it comes to the task/question of finding an agent? (Winning a steadfast servant.)

But it seems derailed by 3. Maybe I should just keep 3 in mind? And avoid being aloof or snobby or superior-sounding in my queries?

I am grateful for any insight anyone has, or any descriptions of past experiences with these lines (or 54 in general). Thank you!

 

[Zimbali]

Maybe, and I know this is a late reply, you are reading too much into 54.

Perhaps there is only a simple requirement to subordinate to the advice of the agent you choose.

 

[mulberry]

Thank you Zimbali! Unfortunately I was so agitated that I mistyped the hexagram in the body of my post; it was 56 The Wanderer (as in the post title) not 54. I have a lot of experience with 54, actually, and while it's not the best hexagram to get most of the time I feel like I understand the dialogue around it and usually know what Yi is saying when it crops up.

56 on the other hand is quite doom and gloom for me, and I associate with years of loneliness and rootlessness when I was younger-- the only time in my life I've regularly received it. I'm not sure what it could mean in this case beyond the obvious (I am searching for an agent and I know wandering and searching are not far off...)

Thank you!

 

[pocossin]

Actually, I'm starting to calm down a little after the first scare from line 3

Line 3 is not to scare you but to encourage you to take defensive action. No matter what happens, defensive maneuvers are possible.

I'm still having lingering doubts and uncertainties, and moments of deep self-doubt.

years of loneliness and rootlessness when I was younger

These are the evil spirits that competence now will overcome. You have chosen a handle that is a symbol of stability.

 

[ginnie]

Sometimes when we get two lines moving, these are the alternatives before us. You either burn the inn or you do not. I would say that whether you burn the inn depends entirely on how you conduct yourself, and if you act carefully no burning will occur. I think of this burning as a sort of wild fervor in which you forget yourself.

 

[mulberry]

Thank you both Pocossin and Ginnie. I very much appreciate your responses! Pocossin, yes, I did choose the name mulberry for its stability, and being even-tempered and persevering in the face of all things is one of the goals I try to achieve day to day. Ginnie, thank you for the reminder about lines as alternatives. In fact, I ended up a social function with some of my old colleagues earlier this week and very much felt the possibilities between the two lines (though a mild version of 3, really). I chose to enact line 2 in my dealings with them and feel okay about it, and hopeful.

Also, I am adjusting to a new understanding of 56 (The Wanderer) in the context of my life now, as since starting the search for an agent last week I have received it two more times (!) in response to questions about the process, and once as the resulting hexagram. It has appeared in pretty much every reading I've done this week. Talk about the uncanny, right? I do like it when Yi confirms his powers.

My new understanding of 56 includes seeing this process of looking for an agent as being on a journey-- which is not always bad. One must journey to get somewhere new, and until I get there professionally I will at times be among strangers, and be uncomfortable, but this is necessary.

The question I asked yesterday that lead to 56 as a changing hex was, "What would come if I sent the manuscript to X?", X being an old professor of mine who has been very successful and who I ran into earlier this week. I get very nervous around her, as she is not only successful but also a true teacher and a highly evolved person. When I'm around her I feel a kind of-- well, intimidation isn't quite the right word, but a powerful calling to be the best possible person I can be in every way, to a degree that makes me feel extremely challenged. (This is of course not a bad thing.) I get very nervous around her! Anyway, I ran into her and she she said wanted to see the book; which I'm not quite sure whether to believe. I have deep misgivings and shyness about sending it to her, so asked, "What if I do?"

I received 12.3.5-> 56.

Line 3 talks about inferior people who have risen to power illegitimately beginning to feel shame and remorse. Could the "inferior people" be my own shyness and self-doubt that precludes me from sending the book to her?

Line 5 is such a nice line, and actually the one that I chose my handle from. '"What it it should fail, what if it should fail?"/In this way he ties it to a cluster of mulberry shoots.' I'm not sure if this line is saying that I should be careful and not send it to her until it somehow feels ready (which might not be ever, honestly) or whether she is a sort of mulberry shoot and would help me. I was (I think) one of her favorite students.

I also asked very quickly right after seeing X earlier this week, "What would come of sending her the book/Did she really mean it when she asked?" and received 56 unchanging.

Any insights? Thank you to anyone who read this far!

 

[ginnie]

You must feel that X is a paragon and you don't want to present her with anything short of perfection. And so you feel ashamed of the manuscript as it is now. I was thinking that part of putting out a book is letting other people read it, which sounds obvious but actually it can be quite a difficult process if you are a sensitive person. If you can do it without burnout, I would let her see the manuscript. She might make some important suggestions.

 

[poised]

mulberry, what happened?
I just got 56..2.3 for an almost identical situation. Was your book accepted? published?
Many thanks, and best wishes for your success

 

[mulberry]

Hi Poised! Sorry, I just saw this! I have continued querying agents, and have had a frustrating repeating experience over & over where the manuscript makes it one step further beyond the query (the agent requests the full manuscript-- which is not common for agents to do), and then after reading the full manuscript the usual response is that they like or love the novel, but its theme is not popular right now and they're sorry, but it's too hard to sell so they can't accept it. I've been through this particular process a dozen times now. On the one hand, it's reassuring that the writing is interesting enough to elicit further interest-- but frustrating that the interest can't carry it past the market conditions. One agent has been more interested than that, and I'm currently working on edits for her. But she hasn't committed to representing it, only to reading it a second time after I've edited based on her suggestions.

So, my uneasiness in April 2014 when I got 56.2.3->64 was right on point! It has been a very humbling experience, and I very much feel like a wanderer-- over and over again I've half-recruited a "young servant" (an agent, or maybe an editor), only to lose them soon after. And I do feel like a stranger in a strange land. The publishing environment has been extremely hostile. It's been a weird cycle between lines 2 and 3. I really don't feel like the "inn has burned down" because of my own meddling, or truculence-- I think I've been careful to be respectful-- it feels more like a misfortune due to matters beyond my control. But it does feel like the inn is burning down over and over.

So yes, to just sum it up-- unfortunately, 56.2.3 was an eerily accurate representation of how the querying and publishing journey has been going for me over the past year. It's been tough. I wish I had a better answer for you. I wish you much luck!

 

[mulberry]

Also, just to follow up a bit, getting 56 in relation to writing & publishing in the mainstream press is a pattern for me. I receive it nearly every time I ask Yi about mainstream publishing, or novel-writing. I also have a career in another area, and at this point I'm wondering if getting 56 after 56 after 56 is a sign that in the corporate publishing world, at least, I'm destined to be a wanderer-- "A wanderer has no fixed abode; his home is the road." Meaning I am not likely in any near term future to find a footing in the mainstream publishing world. Perhaps I should focus 100% on my other endeavors and the community there. Something to think about.

 

[mulberry]

Well, realized I should have updated this thread quite awhile ago. I did eventually get an agent who successfully sold my book to a major publisher. It was a very winding road but not all that long, in the grand scheme of things. I think 56 described the process of getting there quite well!