Getting in Gear
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Usually I have my blog finished before Gavin wakes. But he rose before dawn today, ready for action. He sits behind me in his father’s office chair, “writing” notes with an orange highlighter and stuffing envelopes with sticker-laden scribbles. Even the hole puncher is starting to bore him, so I know my time is short.
I finally cracked the spine of the 2006 Writer’s Market today. I got the large paperback for Christmas, and spotted its unopened blue and brown cover under pine needles every time I watered the tree. It is not like me to wait this long.
The book holds simultaneous hope and dread for me. New markets and new ideas have me drooling with anticipation, but as I drool I secretly question whether any of them may be a good fit.
I am an optimist at heart, and always return to the struggle. But lately I have been whiny: why does it have to be so much work? Has anyone else noticed that the very word submission is a downer? I see myself kneeling, groveling before the writing powers that be. As I kneel, hoping to be knighted, I know that the editorial sword may not dub me worthy. This is not a criticism of my own writing. It is just a fact that the odds are stacked, made to lean away from writers by the very weight of our hope and persistence.
There is a line in Moby Dick: “Oh Time, Strength, Cash and Patience”, and I chuckled when I saw a writing website (now defunct?) with this motto. Anyone reading this blog knows that I struggle with time. For cash I have my day job. That leaves strength and patience.
Even more difficult than the actual stressors is the need to switch gears, or maybe to run on many gears. I so admire the premise of Writing on the Run, an encouragement to “Write Any Time, Any Place”. I worked with a scientist who could do that. He wrote novel chapters on his lunch hours.
Try as I might, I can not see myself switching from enlarged prostates (my latest scintillating project) to musings on the nature of existence in the space of a half hour. Maybe, however, I can mark up my list of markets and submissions, which has suffered from neglect in the past few weeks. Or I can edit a piece from home—just a matter of reading and slashing while I chew my sandwich. Maybe, while prostate data is spinning off my printer, I can jot an idea or two in the margins of my creative world. My wheels are turning already. It feels good to have the gears in motion.
Usually I have my blog finished before Gavin wakes. But he rose before dawn today, ready for action. He sits behind me in his father’s office chair, “writing” notes with an orange highlighter and stuffing envelopes with sticker-laden scribbles. Even the hole puncher is starting to bore him, so I know my time is short.
I finally cracked the spine of the 2006 Writer’s Market today. I got the large paperback for Christmas, and spotted its unopened blue and brown cover under pine needles every time I watered the tree. It is not like me to wait this long.
The book holds simultaneous hope and dread for me. New markets and new ideas have me drooling with anticipation, but as I drool I secretly question whether any of them may be a good fit.
I am an optimist at heart, and always return to the struggle. But lately I have been whiny: why does it have to be so much work? Has anyone else noticed that the very word submission is a downer? I see myself kneeling, groveling before the writing powers that be. As I kneel, hoping to be knighted, I know that the editorial sword may not dub me worthy. This is not a criticism of my own writing. It is just a fact that the odds are stacked, made to lean away from writers by the very weight of our hope and persistence.
There is a line in Moby Dick: “Oh Time, Strength, Cash and Patience”, and I chuckled when I saw a writing website (now defunct?) with this motto. Anyone reading this blog knows that I struggle with time. For cash I have my day job. That leaves strength and patience.
Even more difficult than the actual stressors is the need to switch gears, or maybe to run on many gears. I so admire the premise of Writing on the Run, an encouragement to “Write Any Time, Any Place”. I worked with a scientist who could do that. He wrote novel chapters on his lunch hours.
Try as I might, I can not see myself switching from enlarged prostates (my latest scintillating project) to musings on the nature of existence in the space of a half hour. Maybe, however, I can mark up my list of markets and submissions, which has suffered from neglect in the past few weeks. Or I can edit a piece from home—just a matter of reading and slashing while I chew my sandwich. Maybe, while prostate data is spinning off my printer, I can jot an idea or two in the margins of my creative world. My wheels are turning already. It feels good to have the gears in motion.
posted by Katherine H | 5:23 AM
2 Comments:
good, good, good kathy. i got the same gift for christmas, too. i like their new cover. i have not cracked it open yet. gossh, hope's newsletters keep my busy enough! whew. but i will. don't worry about the odds. don't calculate. just do what you do best (write) and keep trusting the synchonicity of things. already, you're publishin, already, you have a following on your blog, already, already, already. and there will be more. never fear! :-)
~k
REALLY LIKED THE WAY YOU WRITE GETTING IN GEAR. KEEP THOSE WHEELS TURNING, GIRL.
M.
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