This morning the sun came out. I drove down my neighborhood street and noticed a house I’d never seen before. It was always there. I just noticed it for the first time. That perfect moment when the sunlight streamed a certain way and hit that house at a certain angle made me realize it was even there. If I happened to drive by a minute later or a minute sooner. Well, I wouldn’t have noticed it. Again.

I think that’s how it is for us writers. Sometimes our manuscripts fall in the shadows. Sometimes in that perfect moment some editor notices. All it takes is the right moment, the right editor on a given day where our story stands out. It’s a beautiful thing when it happens. It just doesn’t happen very often.

I’ve had a few magazine articles published and just finished a middle grade novel. The novel just went out to a dozen or more editors. I’ve determined to journey this with a little help. That’s where all of you fit in. Whoever you are. Most children’s publishers will write on thier guidelines that they receive thousands on manuscript submissions yearly. That’s a lot of rejection letters. Or the new thing is to be ignored all together. To me … that doesn’t seem very nice. I know they’re swamped. But still.

Tell me your stories of rejection. One day the light will fall at the exact right moment and we’ll be discovered. Until then …  like they say in showbiz we can keep hoping. Because it’s “all in the lighting.”