And the answer is....

Well, Penguin publishers put me out of my misery, and into a whole other kind of misery by saying 'no' to my story 'Invisible'. 

Obviously, I'm very disappointed, although I realise that it would have been some kind of a miracle to have had my first effort at a novel picked up by such a major publisher.

Today I feel like this writing gig is a mug's game. It's hard work, it's kind of boring, the pay is rubbish for the vast majority of us and we weather rejection after rejection before we finally get published, only to find that critics are more than happy to tear down our words and ideas.

And yet, for some reason, I keep at it. I can't imagine why.