So here it is. That time of trial, of testing. The torment of a wait begun.
Your first manuscript, in a big brown envelope. Just three paragraphs, the synopsis, CV, covering letter and self-addressed envelope. A recipe followed, with the secret ingredient being your talent to turn a great story idea into a great story.
You don’t trust the postbox – obviously. Post office only. Main branch, for preference. Registered or just first class?
“Are the contents worth more than £20, sir?”
Stupid question – I always hope so anyway.
Then it’s gone. Vanished. In the system. Flying through the ether with a sparking thread latched back onto your heart. The one big hope is that you never, ever see that self-addressed envelope again! You hope against hope that those stamps on the SAE never fulfil their potential.
But it is gone from you, to another. It appears on a desk, in a tray, probably with a score of other hopefuls. Whose desk? A name from a website, perhaps a face found on the t’interweb – a kind face, one that beams hope to all who see it. You could marry that face if it smiled back at you. Is it an agent or have you, a new author, dared to go straight to a publisher. You interloper, you!
But it is on the desk, in the office. Waiting a letter-opener, the sigh of a bored reader expecting paste but hoping for diamonds. Third cold-read of the day. Have they had a good night’s sleep? Are they full of caffeine, hyped on sugar? Do they even like the title?
Perhaps I will rename the blog. Is ‘The envelope of hope!’ more appropriate? I do hope so.
Leave a Reply