NO NEWS IS GOOD NEWS - BUT THEN THERE'S NEWS!

So, the interested agent was not so interested in my subbed piece. It just didn't reach him emotionally. He prefers a more immersive narrative rather than the punctuated piece I sent him. He wondered if I had done anything with a previous subbed piece that he 'hankered after' seeing redrafted. So, my tail between my legs a little, but still trying to be positive, I sent him the piece he wanted to see...

As for the rejected piece, well I am seeking some outside and professional help with making it right - because I really do believe it's the one. I won't give up on it yet.

And stories - I have written nine this summer and that feels good. And my other year-long writing project is still in process and on target (more about this anon).

But there are dark days, in the pit of dark, when a nagging voice at the back of my head says things and they are never good or encouraging. Despite the competition hits, and all the nice things people have said through the years and still say about the writing, there's that voice and I nod and sit silently listening... sometimes for days. And you'd think that giving it up would be easy... but then in the quietest moment, after days of not doing it, when despair makes thinking slow, then an idea... a story... a new voice... and I have to write it down. And when I do, I think I see, just for a moment, what others see... and it starts over again.

Plus I get still get my work into lots of good places and noticed.

And so, in the end, I reject rejection, and that is a writer's job, and I listen harder to what's been said, and I look to improve. That feels positive.