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Time for some writing real talk. I was talking to a fellow author today about how tough it is having no idea how things are going to work out. That& #39;s the case for a lot of things sure, but there are very few pieces of creative work that require the stamina of writing a novel.
I recently wrote a humourous science fiction novel which I describe as the result of being raised on a diet of Terry Pratchett and Star Trek. As soon as I finished it I thought, this is my meal ticket book, it& #39;s light years better than anything else I& #39;ve ever written.
Last year I parted ways with my agent so I had to go back into the query trenches with the manuscript. Everyone who reads it seems to love it, agents and publishers included, and then when I sent the book out into the wild...absolute donuts.
It went to acquisitions at a big publisher but was ultimately rejected. It got a lot of full requests from agents but all of them passed. The reason stated by all of them, it& #39;s science fiction with comedy. It& #39;s too hard to sell.
Personally, I love humorous sci-fi in the Douglas Adams/Red Dwarf vein. To me, science fiction and absurdism are perfectly matched. Still, I& #39;m not writing this to bemoan publishing& #39;s opinion of whether a certain genre will sell. I& #39;m saying being an author is so unpredictable.
I poured years into this book, I think it& #39;s my best work and I cannot sell it. To contrast that, a little while ago I reached out with a cold message to an acquaintance to chat about Warhammer 40k fiction, next minute I& #39;m writing full length novels for Black Library. 
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Anyway, the point of this thread is to say it& #39;s super hard to predict anything in this writing game and it& #39;s worth remembering to try and focus on the journey rather than the destination or some other thing they& #39;d write on an inspirational poster of a mountain.
And for you wonderful people who& #39;ve said you agree that science fiction comedy is awesome, this book will find its way into the world even if I have to drag it kicking and screaming by the inertial dampers (read: publish it myself).
