If at first…

A few weeks ago I received the first rejection of my novel from a publisher. Although I had constantly told myself 'it will probably get rejected', nothing could prepare me for the moment I first found out. Sitting at my desk at work, putting on a happy face for mcolleagueses, I felt like someone had kicked me in the stomach. It was just a form letter - we are too busy to comment, we only publish a few titles a year so why we recommend you try these other publishers...

So, moving on. Today my second submission is in the post. Stripping my synopsis down to the 500 words they requested was a struggle (it's still not 500 words, but it's less than a page!). They also only requested a partial rather than the whole thing, so the stakes are lower. Having experienced the first rejection a second one won't surprise me. Have to keep plugging on though, just in case.