What Genre Am I?

That is the quiz I would like to find on Facebook that would - hopefully - easily classify the project I am currently querying. Would the result be: literary, commercial, gay/lesbian, or some unknown genre that nobody has ever heard of before? I have no clue. All I have are a bunch of questions without easy answers.

Now, do I actually need a genre to query? No. A lot of the advice on the agent blogs say if you do not have a clue to the genre of your novel, just don't mention a genre. Then again, there are blogs that say you must, must, must, must . . . must indicate a genre. Geesh, people, as if my stress level isn't high enough with my declining 401K and receding hairline. Now I have to - somehow - limit my brilliance into a specific genre!!!

I mean, an agent referred to this project as chick lit with a gay narrator. Well, does that make it chick lit (definitely not my intent, though I did intend to have a broader audience than just the GLBT community)? Does it make it gay lit? Does it make it commercial? Since it is character driven, does it make it literary fiction?

I have no friggin' clue. Initially, since the characters were gay (sorry, it's not erotic or filled with lusty sex scenes) I searched for agents that handled gay/lesbian fiction. Now, I'm beginning to think maybe I should expand my search and look for agents who handle commercial and/or literary fiction.

So, in the meantime as I wallow in frustration, I have backed away from writing and searching (only a momentary pause in my life) and immersed myself in the exploits of Stephanie Plum because I need a good laugh right about now. I know I need to expand my potential agent horizons, and have that on the agenda for this weekend. I just need to flip a coin and hope for the best, because nothing else seems to be working. I know, I'll write each potential genre on small pieces of paper, fold them up, and then draw them from a hat. Where's the sorting hat from Harry Potter when you need it?

I just need a simple answer . . . along with a more brilliant than I've obviously written query letter . . . and all will be right in my little Universe. I've stocked up on Sister Cabernet, Friday is Margarita Night, and it's a long weekend because of Easter. Life is good (well, if I don't count my frustration, lack of a concrete genre, and the fact that after being 78 degrees on Sunday, it dropped into the 40s and almost to the point of freezing yesterday).

Any thoughts on narrowing down a genre from the followers of this blog would be great.

S