Receiving My First Rejection Email on 1 Sep and Other Updates

   Gosh! I am so tempted to start this post with, ‘Duh. The end of the first half of my post,’ which, through this confession, I have. The ‘duh’ in question is none other than the (spoiler alert) first half of this post, as that part of the title, ‘Receiving My First Rejection on 1 Sep’ has suggested. To lengthen the short story, it was 8pm on 1 Sep in my part of the world when the email concerning my first submission to a literary agent arrived in my inbox. To my surprise, my often-dramatic heart did not palpitate. My palms did not itch and my stomach did not flutter either. Not sure how, but I was as stoic as, well, someone who was diametrically opposite to me. Calmly then, I opened the email to find my first ever rejection from a literary agent. Unfortunately they could not offer me a representation, they began. Due to the high volume of submissions, they could not provide specific feedback. However, they explained, it could just be that my novel did not match their personal preference – some other agent might like it. How did I feel after reading the email? A bit disappointed at first, yes, but only because the agent I approached happened to represent one of my favourite authors. I thought that for the mere reason, that agent would be a good match for me – plus I had naturally daydreamt of meeting the author through the agent *wink wink*. Perhaps some things aren’t meant to be – those some things exclude meeting said author, though, because I believe there are always other ways that will enable me to do so one day 💖 For now, my priority is to persevere by submitting my novel to more literary agents. Like most things worth doing however, this endeavour is not as straightforward as it sounds. I can’t just recycle the covering letter and summary I have sent the first agent for instance – those things need to be customised for each agent. As a close friend has aptly put it, there is more writing after a novel is written.

   What I’d call the post-writing writing is something I enjoy, though it can be daunting at times, especially because multitasking is an enormous struggle for me. That leads me to the second part of the post, ‘and Other Updates’, which are in fact announcements with regard to this blog. Specifically, there are two updates.

   The first update is that I would have to post less on this blog because my current priority is to submit my electronic manuscript to the second literary agent on my list. I have considered not posting here altogether as a temporary measure, which I have eventually decided against. I love this blog and I desire to keep it alive, to inspire myself and others to keep writing and shining. Besides, customising my covering letter and summary for all the different literary agents can be stressful at times. My blog is therefore a platform for me to self-soothe by channelling my life’s frustrations and sharing all the luminous things, big and small, that help sustain me in the form of poetry – which leads me to update no 2. I do know that my first update is currently incomplete and I will return to this in a moment, after my second update, which would provide a little context for (the interlinked) update no 1.

   Reading and writing poetry has always been therapeutic to me – perhaps now more than ever. When I say reading poetry, I do not merely refer to the act of reading others’ poetry collections (which I enjoy devouring the way I would great psychological thrillers), I also mean reading mine out loud on my YouTube channel. The latter act is in fact highly cathartic. It feels so good to release all those pent-up emotions just by doing what I love! I have often felt inspired by all the brilliant souls who have been able to make me feel seen, heard and acknowledged, by saying – both in poetry and prose – things for which I struggle to find adequate and accurate words, too. It is extremely relieving to feel the feelings after reading all those powerful words that make my day. Because of that, my hope of writing and reading my poems aloud is also to give others the same privilege of feeling seen, heard and accepted – the way I have thanks to those wonderful individuals whose words have shone a light on so many of my indescribable experiences. With that in mind, I have decided to share at least one blog post a week as a temporary measure – until my submissions to literary agents are sorted – focusing mainly on poetry.

   Oops! What have I just done? I have combined the two updates into one! The first update being, despite my current priority of sending my novel to more literary agents, my commitment to post at least once a week on my blog and the second, because of the same priority, to let myself indulge in and concentrate on the cathartic acts of posting poems on my blog and reading them on YouTube as my means of self-care and hopefully, of making others feel seen, heard, acknowledged and accepted in the process. I will also keep spreading my love of reading, writing and that amazing yet annoying entity called life, daily, on my Facebook page as part of my self-care and mission to soothe and uplift myself and others 💞

   Owing to time constraint, that is all from me today. See you next week, as it were. To my fellow writers, keep spreading the beauty of words and to fellow bibliophiles, let’s continue being our bookish selves no matter what 🌟 Until then!