In Sickness and Sub-genres

I know, I haven't written in ages. I haven't written on the novels in just as long, so don't feel too neglected.

I went to the doctor on Wednesday. That was fun. *blink, blink* She thinks whatever this is could be a UTI, could be a kidney stone with an infection on top of it, or could be some mysterious other kidney-related disease in its early stages - she was looking at my CBC and saying my white blood cell count wasn't elevated, but if it was 'early enough' it wouldn't be. You ever notice how a doctor can look at normal lab results in a way that can scare the crap out of you? Mine can do that. Of course, she's also about as granola as they come with a medical license, so trying to get medication to deal with the pain from all this was like pulling teeth.

Other than that, I'm finally gearing up to write again. I'm my own worst enemy because I'll scrap a whole project if I lose momentum and have to go back and read what I wrote. I'll pronounce it all crap and toss it. I got my issue of Writer's Digest in the mail today and they actually devoted the big articles this time around to genre fiction instead of that crappy "literary" fiction they're seemingly forever on about. I'm sorry to the folks who either read or write literary fiction, but I'm not "into" symbology and that kind of crap enough to want to write something you need a guidebook to figure out. I tell stories, some people like them, that's enough for me. Sure, I'd like more people to like them, but you can't have everything all at once.

I was looking at the sub-genre definitions at http://www.writersdigest.com/genredefinitions.asp and even looking at the micro-genres it's hard to categorize my work. The two published romance novels ( In One Year's Time and Blackstone Gate in case you were wondering ) have bits of the Christian, Paranormal, and Romantic Suspense sub-genres.

Then I look at the two series I've got ongoing, in progress, perpetually simmering, whatever you want to call them. One's a space opera, plain and simple, except that parts are hard sci-fi, parts are cyberpunk, and all of it's fairly dystopian... Space opera stew? The other series is urban fantasy, science fantasy, and mystery put in the blender on frappe.

Ugh. So how do you even try to pitch that much of a mess? Do I narrow down the plot to fit in a specified sub-genre or do I ignore the borders of sub-genre fiction and do what I please? I hate author angst. It's Pre-Manuscript Syndrome, that's what it is. PMS. It's marked by bitchiness, bloating, and a complete inability to nail down the story. This is also why it's best to actually have the whole manuscript written before pitching it to agents or publishers. Thankfully, I'm so terrified of rejection I haven't put any queries out there prematurely.