Exciting News!!

So do you guys remember when I said I had submitted some very important paperwork and I was really really nervous about it?

Well, it's official - I got my acceptance yesterday. Next semester, I will be studying abroad in LONDON! *squeal*

I was not only accepted into the Ithaca London Center program, but into the internship program, which means that they will find a placement (hopefully in book publishing) for me. Yippee!!

Guys, I can hardly put into words how excited I am about this. I've been planning this for what feel like my whole life, and now I am really actually going. It's really happening. In January I will be getting on a plane and going to England!

Waiting for this acceptance letter was hell. Not just because they were doing rolling admissions and my class is the largest in Ithaca's history, not just because I was afraid they might run out of space for me, but because I was so, so scared that all of my scrambling around with paperwork and putting all my excitement into my application wouldn't be enough.

I was terrified that this would just be one more thing that I worked really hard for, that I did everything I could for, just to have someone turn around and tell me, yet again, that I wasn't good enough.

Rejection hurts. It's something we all know very, very well in the writing world. It hurts like hell, but we have to get used to it anyway. We have to build up a thick skin and wave off the persistent stinging of those 'no' emails. For me, it isn't necessarily the rejection that packs a punch, but the accumulation of rejections. I've collected quite the impressive resume of rejections, and while I wouldn't dream of giving up on writing or pursuing a publishing career because of it, there are days when the weight of all those 'no's is just too much.

Let me tell you, it is amazing to add a 'yes' to that pile. It is wonderful to see the words "I am pleased to tell you..." in your inbox. It is beyond wonderful when something you have dreamed of for years turns into something that is actually going to happen. I can start planning now, not just dreaming.

And that one 'yes'? It is worth swimming through the pile of 'no's.