Either the new names tanked it, or it wasn't meant to be. I am going with the latter.
Although I'm disappointed that I did not make it through, I'm just seeing it as a sign that it is time for me to move on to the next stage: indie publishing.
A lot of people will be querying agents now that they are done with ABNA (because as Thomas A. Mays ( @ImprobablAuthor on Twitter) says: if it was good enough for ABNA, it's probably good enough for an agent. I, however, have decided that the self-publishing route is the one for me. I want the control, the flexibility of being beholden only to myself, and also the (near) instant gratification that will come from publishing in the next couple of months rather than the next couple of years.
My first step on this self-publishing road will be running a Kickstarter campaign. Kickstarter is a crowdsourcing site where donors can help you raise money to fund a project, and my project will be funding the publication of my first novel.
Although you can self-publish for free, to do it well you need professional editors and professional cover designs. And I didn't spend years working on The Talented to publish it poorly. I want to produce the best product I can, and I'm going to use Kickstarter to help me do that.
So I need to figure out how much money to raise, what rewards to give, when to run the campaign, and what, exactly, the funds will go toward.
I expect that it will be a lot of work, but when I hold that finished product in my hand I know it will be worth it.
So my ABNA adventure is over, but my Kickstarter adventure is just beginning.