Shoganai

I just got an email from the magazine I submitted my story to. They didn't want to use it. They quite correctly made the point about a lack of empathy with the characters, something which I was mulling over last week (once it was too late to do anything about it of course). But, unlike the blow I used to feel when my poetry used to get rejected, I don't feel too bruised by it. In fact, I'm glad they pointed out what I was already thinking. I do have another one which is almost ready to fledge so I might send them that one, rework the first and then push it out the nest again.

I'm quite pleased that I got the guts to finally send anything off. It's been about three years since I last had something published, and mostly it had to do with a total meltdown in the self-confidence department. Whilst I was still writing, I didn't really believe that anything I wrote was any good, even when people told me they enjoyed it. Then, the events of last February happened, and I stopped writing completely for a good 4-5 months. Actually getting past the notes scribbled in my notebooks took until October thanks to a rather wonderful psychologist who did an excellent job of shaking me awake and who actually took an interest in why I couldn't write.

Of course, I haven't written poetry since I had an interview with Andrew Motion for the MA in Creative Writing at the UEA. Not quite sure what happened there. I guess that's when I decided to switch from poetry to fiction. Still, the poet's in here somewhere - she's burrowed deep, but I'll find her.