I got my second rejection yesterday - just a form letter - 'not quite right for us'.
'I'm sorry,' Paul said after I'd swallowed hard, put on my couldn't-care-less face and told him.
'It's nothing,' I replied, managing to stretch my lips into a grin. 'I know I have to expect it. I'll get heaps of rejections. Everybody does. Even famous people. Loads of famous people.'
But it wasn't nothing. I managed for about half an hour and then got up and rushed to the shop to buy an Aero bar - not the posh kind of dark chocolate that's good for you - when in need, I go for the dairy milk sort. Very bad for you but sweet and addictive. Hits the spot. Ate it all in less than a couple of minutes.
If only they would send one sentence - just one sentence - to say why. Something like - 'not saleable because of setting' or 'didn't like your opening chapter' or 'too many other stories like this one'. I promise I wouldn't write back - but I'd send them blessings on every air wave. And if I got several that said the same thing, I'd know what they thought I should I change.
With a form rejection, you more or less know that you haven't got them past the cover letter. But what was wrong? What didn't they like? Or did their dog just die and they couldn't cope with any more queries?
I've followed all the instructions - or I think I have. I've followed them until my letter sounds as though it was written by a robot. That's what I thought when I got to agent number 7 so I changed it into a real letter saying the things you're not supposed to include but at least beginning to sound like myself again. This rejection was from a robot type cover letter.
I wonder how many more chocolate bars I'll have to buy before I get published. And how fat I'll get. Probably won't get through the door by then and I'm quite a respectable medium size at the moment.
Dear friends, I hope your writing is going well and that agents and publishers are lining up outside your door so that you won't need a chocolate shop.
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