My short snippet on rejection is published in this month’s Mslexia! The magazine arrived yesterday and, as part of me still can’t quite believe I’ve finally done it, I keep turning to the “Slings and Arrows, Triumph over Tragedy” section to convince myself that my piece is really there.
I’ve subscribed to Mslexia since it began and over the years I’ve sent in various submissions but this is the first that’s been accepted. True cause for rejoicing and under any other circumstances the bubbly wine would have been out the moment the email pinged into the box. These, however, are not ordinary times.
For the first time ever, I can’t share my good new with my mum. She was always so supportive of my writing and loved it when I got a story into an anthology, or magazine. She’d read all my books and one of the best things was when she’d ring and say she’d been so engrossed in the book that she’d stayed up until the early hours of the morning to finish it.
She was one of Letty Parker’s greatest fans and I’d hoped to have a pre-publication copy of “Island of Fear,” the third adventure in the series, out in time for her birthday in August.
There are so many ways in which I’m going to miss her and not being able to share a writing success will be one of them, which is why the realisation of a long held ambition comes with a certain bitter sweetness.
Misha Herwin 