Yes Soliciting!

I get so excited whenever I get a new manuscript or query ready to mail off. Regardless of the fact that it will probably come back a little worse for wear in a month or two, I love the anticipation I feel each time I lick another envelope. There's always hope. And if that fails, there's always next time....

There's a metaphor for sending off manuscripts that compares the work to a child going off to its first day of kindergarten. I doubt I feel anything like the anxiety that hits mothers at the start of the school year. Or maybe I'm just going to be a really laid-back mom.

Because, no matter what publication I'm soliciting, I don't expect rejection. It always kind of takes me by surprise, and sometimes it stings, while other times I just shrug and get another envelope to send the piece out to another magazine. And get excited all over again.

I like to tell myself to savor this stage of my career while I can -- while editors don't know who I am, while they aren't yet knocking down doors to get to me.