Okay, rant over about books getting published because of who wrote them rather than literary merit. Kirby is naturally frustrated, as are many authors and writers I know. The children’s book community became heartily sick of the celebrity writer trend a while back, especially when a certain singer with a not particularly kid-friendly image started writing books based on a glancing understanding of a certain religious tradition. As an illustrator, I was even more annoyed by the complete disregard for whoever the artist was on the picture books (heck, he didn’t even get his name on the cover of the first one).
Rejection slips, deserved or not, can be galling considering who IS getting published.
When I go off on a rant, I need a personal Frankenstein’s creature to shock me out of it. Not to make any comparison of personality or appearance, but Maggie often acts in this role. Usually, a girl locked in the bedroom is not available for such shock treatment, but she does her best.