Self-Addressed Stamped Enigma

This afternoon’s mail: 

“Thank you for thinking of __ & __ in connection with your writing.  Your query has been read and reviewed.  But I’m afraid I am currently overwhelmed with commitments to my present clients and am able to take on very little if any new material.  I find your proposal quite interesting, but I’m afraid I just would not be able to give your work the time and attention it deserves.

Thank you again for giving me this opportunity.  I wish you the best of luck in placing your work elsewhere.  I’m so sorry I can’t help at this point.”

Okay…Get the point.  Taking very few new projects right now, unless it’s something completely up her alley…Totally appreciate the note and nicety…Expected the form letter and rejection…but how do I know if she finds my proposal “quite interesting” if it’s a form letter?  And why take the time to say my query’s been read and reviewed, let alone do it?

Am I wrong to be a little annoyed?  Am I wrong to feel guilty at being annoyed at a genuine extension of courtesy?  Have I finally become jaded – finally gotten in touch with my inner New Yorker (although this office is in NYC and I’m a dozen states off…) or am I just looking for a reason to complain?

Call it what you will.  I guess what bothers me is when people say anything they don’t really mean.  Maybe this is a “dedicated” form letter for ideas she thought promising, but I’d rather not hear what I don’t know how to interpret.

I can interpret “no”, however, which I guess should be enough for me.

This was the ninth of nine queries that I submitted in a last-ditch attempt to force myself to wrap up the last of my manuscript.  Later I realized that there were certain aspects of my pitch letter was not really the most effective approach.  So I don’t know if I’ve turned off agents who would otherwise be interested had I been more effective in summarizing my manuscript in those critical 2-3 paragraphs.

My current goal:  wrap the manuscript up by September 1.  We’ll see.