New Balls, please!

You know summer is in the air when the TV is full of little people in white, chomping on bananas and tearing it up on a nicely mown lawn.

The shout of 'New Balls, please' fills the air and makes me think 'gird your loins, girl' as it's that time of year when you face up to your yearly round of rejection and take stock before you get organised for another year's LSF, wondering if you've written something that will set the world alight, or merely make it go 'Eh'.

Yes, RE-JECT-ION the bane of all writers but a necessary evil if you want to learn and progress.

My first novel is apparently something people 'like but don't love enough to represent', or does not fit some list that makes it sit in a certain bracket underneath a dusty table that's an inch shy of sitting flush but needs something for the wobble.

Still, undeterred you have to lob that rejection back say 'Bugger' and keep on returning. If there's one thing you must do it's keep on returning as the more you write and rewrite the better you get. The more rejection you have the thicker your skin will be and you'll find that you can complete something and move on without dwelling on how you want to stick pins in the voodoo doll of that b. who knocked you back!

Yes, rejection makes you grow as a person even when that slice goes into your heart like a pickaxe but without it, how do you appreciate when you do have a win?

Since the last LSF, I've had a short story accepted for an anthology, finished a novel and part of a sequel (admittedly, not forging a trail so far) but I've had something read on stage and written a little kids story, two thirds of a feature comedy script, the start of a sitcom and a couple of shorts. So, even if they're not a shining light at this point, I have something to work from and have - in my own inimitable way - got somewhere.

Progress is often assessed by looking at 'success' but the road to success has a lot of potholes, drop shots and things that need picked up when they fall over. Every wee step is a step towards getting that idea over the net and loving what you do.

So, if you happen to lose the faith, think to yourself 'New balls, please' and in no time you'll see some return in your favour.

Off to watch the tennis and the funny hand claps.

See you at LSF. (I'll be the one with the stiff neck and the side to side twitch. Blame Anderson and Isner...sound like an a firm of accountants!)