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Rejecting the rejection ... and why Littlest isn't an atheist

Huh!

Being rejected is never easy. But  J K Rowling was allegedly rejected eighteen times before Christopher Little took her on, so my current tally of seven means I have a way to go yet. Ho hum. Can I bear another three months of daily stealing myself to open my otherwise sleepy email account - the one reserved for secret ordering of gifts;  receipt of work related journals and newspaper subscriptions that would otherwise clog up the home account and make the recipient of secret gifts less than happy; registration of my facebook, twitter, blogger and jottify accounts; oh! and agent submissions, of course? Following this stealing activity and relief at lack of a reply, there's the bit where I kid myself - maybe I haven't heard because they're reading it; maybe they like it and are waiting 'til the evening or weekend to phone; maybe someone will finally give me licence to spend all day, every day being a writer ... I tend at this point to drift off into fantasy. Until that is my bubble pops - I get rejected again, and I remind myself that I am probably more likely to win something significant in the lottery than actually get a book published. Where's that lottery ticket ...

Anyway, back in my real world - the one where I get nothing if I don't try - I will submit again. I like my stories-not-yet-books. Another agent, another chance ... another fantasy.

As for Littlest and her nugget of the day

... she isn't an atheist

... because she does believe

... in fairies!


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