Sorry for the melodramatic title but I received my first rejection yesteday. It’s a milestone only to be matched by my first acceptance.
Yesterday, I found out that I hadn’t won the Scottish Book Trust New Writers Award. But I made it on to a shortlist of 20, which is great. They had eight awards to give but over 230* applications and a high overall quality. I didn’t truly expect to I’d get one of the awards but I did hope, a little bit, at the back of my mind.
So, what now? Well, nothing. It doesn’t change the plan. Not having won the award doesn’t affect anything, except that I need to remember to apply again next year. One of the great things about applying in the first place was that I had to look at what I wanted to achieve this year. Having professional support and some money to use for time to write would have helped tremendously but not having it can’t stop me. It’s business as usual.
Phew. I was worried I’d take it badly.
* Top 8.6%. These are the things to hold on to: I made the shortlist and I have a plan.