So what will I do in my 56th year?

Looking back, I didn't have such a bad double-nickle, though I did not meet my goal of finding an agent. I thought it was going to happen a few times, but it just didn't.

Such is life, and all that. Rejections ground me more than acceptance ever would. Besides that, I surely know I am not alone in the world.

In fact, over here in the rejection side of life it is damn crowded.

But in my 55th year I rewrote a novel, completely wrote another one, wrote a raft of poetry, wrote half-a-dozen short stories and did all that querying trying to find an agent.

The last couple of months HAVE been kinda draggy, but that is still a lot of work to do during roughly 10 months — not to mention that I have a day job to worry about.

So I feel pretty good about it all — but I won't feel good if I can't get re-energized.

I have written four or five poems in the last few weeks, all in various stages of revision. A couple of them have promise. That is a beginning, but I don't think poetry is my strongest talent. That means it will probably be the only place I am ultimately published.

Such is life!

Yours in rejection,

Phil