I was glad it was a 3-day weekend, because I needed the time. I did hear back from the agent on Friday who had a partial of WRETCHED and turned it down. My wife was in the car when I opened and read the letter and I could see the worried look on her face. But though I was disappointed, I was (and am) not discouraged. As Napoleon Hill (not Dynamite) famously wrote:

Every negative event contains within it the seed of an equal or greater benefit

So I went back over my query pitch and refined it again. I found some great websites (like Query Shark) where agents critique queries and highlight the goods, bads, and uglies. So I have sent out another crop of queries, synopses, and samples to another targeted batch of agents who specialize in YA fantasy novels.

I will update my blog with the results as they come in. I also learned that many authors are posting the first chapter on their blogs as well. So watch for that soon.