But, sometimes, when I write, it's all I can think about. Even when I'm not working on a story, I'm all
Other times, I'm far more...tepid. I read more. I click through all the posts on Imgur. I go looking through Buzzfeed (I know, right?) I think downtimes like those are when my brain is percolating. Something is in the slow cooker, and if I lift the lid too soon, I risk a setback. I do have a number of ideas, half formed in the shadows. Lord knows I have any number of partially finished stories that I should dust off and put endings onto, and then do a full on teardown edit of to make viable and send away, a là Michael Seese (who Janet Reid wrote about here).
I got a rejection from Lakeside Circus [published by Dagan Books] on Friday night. I read the email at like, 3 a.m. when I got woken up to DD, so I completely forgot until Saturday evening. Nowadays, rejections (for short stories, anyway) don't have much of an impact on me. They aren't a tremendous disappointment. My first novel rejection, though?
Such is the lot of a writer, of course. A writer who wants to be published, anyway (and who isn't inclined to leap to self publishing, despite casual comments I may or may not have made two years ago or whatever). You write. You edit. You submit. You wait. You get your responses. You write some more. Etc. etc. life goes on. I'd like to know other in-person writers, maybe do something crazy like join a writer's group. Of course, I'd need to find one to begin with, and make sure it's a group I can play nice with; there are times I do not, in fact, play well with others despite my best efforts and intentions. But that's part of being a grown up as well. And a writer.
(this is the best picture I've taken of Elka. I use it often. I'm not sorry.)
I just found your blog today and, I have to say, I wish I knew more in-person writers as well but for now I'm pretty happy to find charming ones online here and there. :)
ReplyDeleteWelcome, happy to have new eyes!
DeleteThe writers I've found online do tend to make up for the real life lack. I don't have to leave my couch, this way;)
I can't get together with writers either. For some reason the little darlings aren't very social. Poets in my town turn up their noses at novelists and the only novelists who met regularly are now fractured up and not seeing each other. What's up with that? So I enjoy my online contacts and wait for the day when I can meet a fellow writer in person.
ReplyDeleteYes, we are occasionally sometimes an antisocial lot, aren't we? Snarling in our corners. I know I guard my alone time jealously, maybe that's in play?
DeleteAdd me to the crew who doesn't know a lot of writers IRL either. I guess we're all holed up in our houses writing?
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry about the rejection. No matter what else happens, they still always sting a little. I fully support falling into the black hole of Buzzfeed for a while before jumping back into the swing of things.
They do sting, yes, but familiarity breeds contempt. Each one stings a bit less, and I just try again. Granted, I need to find a new place to send this one.....
DeleteIt definitely gets easier. I found one thing that helped me was to have more than one thing out at a time...then when you get that rejection, you think, "Well, there's always that other ms. I have with so-and-so." By the time the second one is rejected, you have the first one with someone else. Kind of like juggling!
ReplyDeleteJuggling helps, I agree! I have another story that's at Agni right now, and a third I'm putting into "proper manuscript format" to send to Apex. So, others are on the string.
Delete