I hadn’t realized how hard I’d been holding my breath about that admissions letter until it was all over, and now that it is, what a relief. I am back to work with a vengeance, and it feels good.

I’ve put together multiple agent submissions, written a magazine article, sketched out a project with a freelance client, finished Chapter Five of my current manuscript The Water Bearers (working title–also thinking of Sprite as a possible, too), pulled together the content for the PEN newsletter, and shipped two short stories off to three different literary contests.

I’ve also fielded four rejection letters, one of which I believe has set the Guiness World Record for Fastest Rejection Letter Ever by a Literary Agent (what was that, Nathan, less than an hour?) I am unfazed, which, as it turns out, is the delightful side effect of being beaten down by the grad school thing–I have developed a thicker (obscenely thick) shell now, so taking those letters in stride has become much easier.

After all, tomorrow is another day–and there are other agents, other publishers, and digital technology is, after all, creating a publishing revolution which I’m finding very intriguing for its possibilities. Just call me Che from now on, I guess.

I am deeply indebted to the kind words of family, friends, and fellow writers, all of whom basically said the same thing (though some of them did it in language which I can’t reprint here.) Thank you to all of you for supporting me and cheering me on.

I’m back on track and raring to go, because Winston Churchill told me to “Never, never, never, never give up.” And I won’t.

Stay tuned.