Here is one of the painful memories of high school: getting the courage to call up somebody attractive and ask them out to dinner or the movies. I didn't do it a lot, most because there were a few occasions when I was turned down. That hurt. Made me shy. Took a while to recover.
One memory in particular: I dialed the number, identified myself, and asked for somebody named "Cindy." When she picked up the receiver, I played it cool and said, "Would you like to go out sometime?" She said, "No." Shot down immediately. As I tried to recover, I could hear tell someone what she said. Then she started to laugh. And hung up.
I chewed on the cold coals of humiliation.
This is the fear of sending a book manuscript off to a publisher. What if my fine effort is rejected? What if they laugh?
It's curious that I haven't sent out the book yet. True, the editing phase took a lot longer than I ever expected. There have been delays, some of which I do not understand. And there's the quiet fear that it will not be wanted. So I'll wait until confidence is regained.
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