As some of you know, I came to agenting through a bit of a side-hatch. I'm not a former editor. I didn't complete UC Santa Barbara's nine week literary agent training program. I wrote and tried to place my own material before moving to NYC to find a job in publishing. Once here, I applied for an internship at a literary agency, worked hard (and for free), and accepted a position once it was offered.When I started as an agent, I made several lofty pledges to myself. Since I'd been on the receiving end of form rejections, I vowed to try and avoid them as much as possible. Because I, too, had waited for months to hear back from agents, I held my hand over my heart and said "Three weeks! I'll respond in three weeks!" I promised I'd never become jaded because I was going to be an agent of the people, who would break the mold and be a hero and etc etc etc.Folks, I've now realized that all those pledges are simple to say, and harder to do. As much as I want to honor those sacred vows I took, it's become increasingly more difficult as the volume of queries has increased and I've focused more on my own clients. Then there's conferences, and contests to judge, and lunches...I know, I know, I'm making excuses, but I simply wanted to address why things have been taking longer than usual.I'm trying to catch up. I'm trying to put queries a bit higher on my list of priorities (you'll notice, perhaps, that I haven't been updating the blog as much recently). I do still yearn for more terrific projects to pass across my desk (virtually, of course). I've just come to realize that the superhero agent of the people is a bit harder to pull off than I imagined. But hey, if I can't be Batman, Robin ain't so bad, right?Love,Your friendly neighborhood Agentman.