First: The Bad News...

It was almost two months to the day that I sent Adventure Eddy off to Hodder and Stoughton. Last night I got my first rejection letter.

Obviously I'm disappointed. Hodder and Stoughton were my first choice of publishers, but they're enormous. Plus the editor took the time to write a very nice personal letter which suggested I would be better off sending my novel to agents first, rather than directly approaching publishers.

So it certainly doesn't close the door. Last night I was even feeling quite pragmatic about it.

My next step is to regroup and target an agent. I'm aiming to do that immediately, before my momentum slows.

It's funny. Selling your novel seems exactly like selling anything else. Airtime. Summer programs. Expensive wines. Deep down, you can only do it if you believe completely in your project.

That must be why getting published is such a challenging project.

It's difficult not to take rejection personally. For a decade now, I've considered myself a writer. So obviously, when I spend a year writing and editing something, I inject it with a huge amount of myself. My experiences at the American University of Paris. Cocktails of people I've known and experiences I've had. Sending off a book - especially a first book - is like giving yourself to a publisher and demanding: "Judge me!"

Fortunately the editor at Hodder took the time to write that letter (which is incredibly thoughtful, given the hundreds of submissions they receive each week.) That small gesture helped me understand why he hadn't chosen the book and gave me hope and enthusiasm for continuing my quest.