Well, got my first rejection letter yesterday.

At first I panicked, because I was thinking it was from the agency that I really thought my book would do well with (Barry Goldblatt), but it wasn't. The envelope was folded and I was like "What's with this?" Then I remembered that I needed to fold my SASEs in order to get them into the envelope with my query letter. I guess I was excited or something. My girlfriend looked at me and the look on my face before I opened it and said, "Maybe I better go in the other room." I didn't think so, but she left anyway as I opened it up.

Inside was the query letter I sent to them with a stamp(!) on the bottom that read simply, "I'm afraid your material doesn't suit our current needs and/or interests. STERNIG & BYRNE LITERARY AGENCY."

I had to laugh. How the hell would they know? They haven't read my material. I looked at the address it was sent to: Milwaukee, WI. Figures. These hacks in Wisconsin think they're high rollers or something. Maybe I should've mentioned the Green Bay Packers.

So...that's one. Today, I'm going to send out a whole manuscript to some lucky publishing house. That'll show 'em...