When to slide the project under the bed

Dear Rose,
I've been sending out query letters and getting rejections. How do I know when to call it quits? I love my story, but also want to be realistic in how much time/money I spend on postage when I have other projects I could be giving my energy to.
Rachel (when to slide the project under the bed)

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Dear Rachel,
This is a tough question and I'll answer it in a string of questions.
1. Is the project as clean as it possibly can get?
2. Did you take it through a critique group or partner?
3. Have you followed the publishing house's guidelines?
4. Have you read several books for the publishing line you're targeting to see if your book fits in that line?
5. Have you submitted this project to contests? Contests are valuable for feedback and if you final, your project gets in front of an editor.
6. Have you applied changes based on feedback from contests and critique partners?
7. Have you submitted the book to every publishing house it will fit and been rejected?
8. Have you repeated steps 1-7 at least once?
If you answered yes to the above questions, then you're probably ready to slide this baby under the bed. Just because you slide it under the bed doesn't mean it'll never sell, it just may not be your first book to sell. If you've already finished this book, the most important thing you can do is work on your next. All the while you're submitting, improving and resubmitting, you should be writing your next best seller. With each effort, you learn and grow as a writer.
Rose

Contest Woes

Dear Rose,

Recently I received my first contest entry back and my scores were all over the map. One of the judges rated it practically perfect, one judge thought it wasn’t worth killing a tree for, the third judge was indifferent. Their comments are the same way. Either no comments, nit-picky, or just a couple of things. How do I figure out what needs to be fixed and how to fix it? Or maybe I should just scrap it and start over?

Betty (with Contest Woes)

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Dear Betty,

The first thing you should do is to check who wrote what comment. If one judge is listed as a published author and another is not published, the advice of the published author may have more merritt as that judge has more experience with writing and publishing. However, in the end, you, the writer will need to evaluate the comments and determine what's right for you. This is your work, afterall.
Rose