Dear writer

So began my email from the Ilkley Literature Festival telling me I'd been shortlisted.  It was a great moment, from my daughter's delight to the good wishes of my on-line friends.  I basked.  And then I waited.

Much time was wasted over the next couple of weeks with compulsive email checking.  Then you reach a point, rather like waiting for the outcome of a job interview, when you realise that the silence does not bode well.  It's strange then that you should feel so disappointed when the second email finally arrives.

After sleeping on the news I feel much more philosophical.  The world hasn't ended, nothing has changed.  I'll tweak my story a little and send it out again.  My friends enjoyed reading my story and, what's more, I had great fun writing it.  That, after all, is the main thing.  Isn't it?