Back from a Beyond

I've been gone...vacation...mountains, wild places and things...and...grief.
I'm back, but...
No one ever told me that grief felt so like fear.-C.S. Lewis, A Grief Observed.




L.E. next to Current Creek reservoir in June.

Every Day

The newspaper had a special section yesterday about the new economy, particularly about jobs, getting them, keeping them, creating them. I almost didn’t read it. It didn’t seem particularly valid for my situation, other than as help for my sons and when did they ever listen to me? After all, I’ve never had a ‘real’ job. I’m ‘retired.’ And I seek to be published, not hired. (Surprisingly similar things, but like I said, when have they ever listened to me? I could be sexist and say, hey, they’re men, or…and moms of boys will understand, say, hey, they’re boys, or I could say, hey, I’m just mom.)

They’re right, I worked at a pet shop before I was married and cleaned a theater for several months when my husband was laid off one winter. And gosh, a pet shop is mostly fun, isn’t it? Well, yes and no. Loved interacting with the animals. I was good at it. But lessons are learned: Puppies, kitties, and various other pets poop. A lot. And back then, we had puppies, kitties, and various other pets as the product we sold, and in the pet shop world then, product died. It was a hard fact for someone like me to learn and cope with.

Hey, for my career class, my chosen careers where Veterinarian or novel writer. I was told women are not accepted at Veterinarian Colleges and you can’t make a living writing books unless you’re a journalist. Yes, it was the dark ages and yes, the thing about novel writing is still true unless you’re Nora Roberts or Steven King or really, really lucky.  

The theater was just a big house where everyone was partying, and what on earth are people doing in a public theater anyway? You would not believe what I found hanging around the seating area. Seriously, folks?

I digress. I found three surprisingly valid articles for me, a novel writer. Will any of it guarantee I’ll be published? No more than it guarantees anyone else will get a job, but it’s a good thing to pack in your backpack and carry with you no matter which you want.

 

From one article was about improving yourself and your skills continuously. My take away for every day.

·       Learn something new for your writing.

·       Devote at least 15 minutes every day learning or improving a skill you use in your writing.

·       Learn a new word, its meaning and use.

·       Read a writer’s magazine, at least one article.

From another:

·       Find and nurture support. This can be a challenge if you don’t run into other writers in your day to day or you can’t attend meetings or such. I’m in that situations. Thank goodness for the internet. There are friendly writers and many, many support groups. That leads to the challenge of how you spend your time on the internet. Be strong.

·       Plan your writing day. Have goals, whether in time, words, whatever. Meet them, exceed them, raise them.

·       Broaden your skills and update them.

·       Work on your bio. Read it and try to add to it.

·       Attend workshops, seminars; buy DVD’s, whatever to help your writing skills.

Third article:

·       Reading, therefore writing is in a flux right now. Keep up.(Are you sensing a theme or repeated point here?)

·       Change with the times while holding to the core of good writing.

·       Remember, things go on whether the economy slows or not. People will read. They’ll want fresh, great reads no matter how it’s delivered. So the focus has to be on the writing.

·       No job, no business is easy. Problems will come and those that stay around adapt and embrace change

·       Smile. Enjoy what you’re doing. Fall in love with it. Every day.