Collecting

Not that this is doing much good for my ego, but I've begun collecting what every young writer inevitably collects: rejection letters.

As of this afternoon, here's the tally:

Acceptance, but from a shady agency (and thus rejected by me. Ha!): 1
Rejection with "Don't worry, it only takes one 'yes'" tag at the end: 2
Unanswered e-mail queries: 2
Drafts sent to my editor in Birmingham, who sent it to my former English teacher, who knows someone: 1
Meetings with Alan tomorrow to discuss how much work this novel will need over the summer: 1
Novels and short story collections (or drafts) written this year: 7
Novels and short story collections written to date: 8
Novels and short story collections with fantasy themes, and thus untouchable by many agents: 5
Meals I owe Eytan Halaban after I sell my first book: technically 1, but really quite a few at Union League, Mory's, or the fine dining establishment of his choice.
Times rejected by Eytan's agent: 1 (but hell, the novel was in the 300,000-word neighborhood at the time. Give me a break, I was 20.)
Total rejections to date: 3

Beyond wallowing in self-pity and nursing my wounded pride, I'm keeping this in hopes that I'll look back one day and laugh. In the meantime, if anyone out there is (a) a reputable agent with a thing for both general fiction and fantasy, who is (b) looking for new writers, and (c) might be interested in me, I've got a query I'd be happy to send your way...