Yesterday, I submitted the completed manuscript of “The One-Legged Head” to O’Brien Press. It was one of those moments where I hovered over the ‘send’ button for a while before I clicked it. It was a welcome feeling of accomplishment, regardless of the outcome.
Today, I took it a step further and submitted the manuscript to Alice Williams Literary, a UK-based agency. This is a specialist agency representing authors and illustrators of all genres of children’s books. I figured that if I were to see any sort of success with my writing, an agency would be in my best interest.
I similarly hesitated before pressing send today, but without the nervousness that accompanied the same action yesterday. More of a thoughtful pause, with hope for the future. A younger me would have been overly-concerned with criticism, whereas today’s me is more realistic about the process. People will either like it, or they won’t. If they like it, it enters the process of going to a publisher for editing and design. If they don’t like it, the story still exists, just not on bookshelves.
Darragh Ó Bradáin 
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