Sucks, doesn’t it.

So, you didn’t make the longlist.  You read the list of names.  Then, you read it again.  Then, if you’re like me, you went looking for chocolate.

All our judges are writers. That means all of us, at some point, have been rejected. Again, and again, and again. Rejected when we’ve poured our hearts and souls into a piece of work. Rejected when we really thought we’d got it this time.  It hurts. I’m sorry. We don’t want anyone to feel like that.

The most important thing to remember is that rejection is part of the process and happens to everyone. In this post I’m going to talk a little about how we made our decision, the most common mistakes that kept people off the longlist, and those qualities that saw our 17 longlistees make it through. Hopefully you’ll find it useful – more importantly, you should find it encouraging.

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