Bad Day

Yesterday started out pretty great. Then 2PM hit, and it all went to hell. I spent a good part of the day catching up with a high school pal, and then I roamed the internet for pictures of my high school and the base I used to live in and the castles I visited. Teared up quite a few times, lost in memory. That barrage of nostalgia, though, got me thinking about my goals and dreams during those years. And that led to the realization that I was doing Nothing compared to what I had hoped and planned. And then I started thinking about how my writing isn't all that great, I'm wasting my life, I can't do anything. Negative snowballing can be fun, eh? I would've found some way to deal with all that nonsense when I got home - watch a DVD with some commentary, play video game, anything to keep my brain from having too much fun with those thoughts. But then I checked the mail.

I received my second rejection letter yesterday.

"That was fast," you say. That's what I said too. I mailed it Jan 10. They mailed their response Jan 20. This agency advertises a 1-3 month response rate. Nice to know my letter was so intriguing that it didn't even make it through the first round of cuts. And, of course, the rejection was a form letter. "Dear Author." The agent wasn't "sufficiently enthusiastic" about my submission. Thank you, junior staffer, for your quick response. With this sort of whiplash reaction, I just hope that someone read the damn query letter. And that I don't go mad trying to analyze what about my letter caused such a knee-jerk "no".

Needless to say, my night did not improve when I got home.