From Miss Snark:

Yesterday, some poor nitwit asked her blog readers to lobby an editor about the partial she'd just submitted.

Seems some newbie has Ms. Genoese reading her partial. In a spasmodic attack of overenthusiasm, she posted her first chapter and asked all her blog readers to visit Ms. Genoese's blog to tell her how much they loved the book, as if popular opinion could prompt an offer. Yes, that's an utterly bung-headed idea, but that's not my focus today. Here's what Miss Snark had to say in the aftermath.

Pick yourself up.
Apologize.
Sincerely.
None of this "if I may have offended you" or "if I offended you".
A sincere apology is "I fucked up. I'm really sorry. I learned a lot from this. I ask your forgiveness". Those words can be really really hard to say, particularly when you are feeling attacked, and defensive.

Truer words were never spoken.

And so here's tribute to everyone out there who ever fucked up royal, and then had the balls to admit it, no qualifiers, no explanations, no justifications. Accountability is one of the most difficult lessons to learn, whether in our personal or professional lives, but it shows true grace when we manage it.

Hats off to those who know how to say "I'm sorry".