Some words to inspire you:
If at first you don't succeed,
try, try again.
-old English proverb.
Don't lose your confidence if you slip,
Be grateful for a pleasant trip,
And pick yourself up,
Dust yourself off,
Start all over again.
song- PICK YOURSELF UP from the film Swing Time 1936
I think I can, I think I can.
-The Little Engine That Could
My first manuscript about the history of spying was rejected by the publisher. I thought my manuscript was brilliant but the publisher thought it lacked focus. I pouted and sulked for 30 minutes then started all over again.
The people at annick press (Spy, Spy Again's publisher) steered me towards a better direction.
"Why don't you write about spy failures?" they suggested.
"Oooh!" said I.
So library books were burrowed into once again, the internet was raked over, and some super samples of spy jobs gone wrong were unearthed and shoveled up. My editor dug out several accounts of ancient blunders and tossed them into my spy pile as well. Soon, my filing cabinet (the cardboard box under my desk) was overflowing with historical research.
I wrote all about 20 spy failures and went back to the drawing board to doodle little scribbly pictures. Finally, I had a new manuscript to show the publisher and this time they liked it. And after many more months of illustrating and word tweaking, Spy, Spy Again was published. Tadaaaa!!!