Real Quick (Writing News)
I am super-duper busy this week, having adrenaline flashes and Tazmanian-Devil-esque flurries of activity all over the place. I’m thinking I’ll be busy next week, too, at least until after the Feb. 2 reading.
I know – you’re thinking, “Since when are you a poet, Gwen?” I’m not, really, because writing poetry doesn’t come easily to me. Not good poetry, anyway. (I can write bad poetry like a mofo, though, and always have. Ha, ha.)
But, you know, I wanted to push my limits, challenge myself, put some eggs in another basket, and try something new. I read some of my poems on the radio tonight, making the second time ever in my life I’ve read poems aloud. I think it came out okay. I hope it did. I mean, the vomity feeling in my guts subsided by the time it was done. (I still feel vomity sometimes before a reading, no matter how many times I do it.)
In April, Houston’s Museum of Fine Arts is cranking up a new festival, and I just heard that I get to read as part of that. So that’s good…
Besides that, I’ve been writing a lot of book proposals and then getting them rejected. Although I hardly mention it, that happens all the time – it happened a lot to me in 2006 – and I’ve gotten so good at coping with rejection, it’s like water down a duck back, now. Almost. Pretty much. I just got my fourth or fifth proposal rejection today. Breathe in, breathe out. It’s okay; I’m working on a new proposal now. Cross your fingers for me, please, still.
Advice for Writers, from a Writer
Look: here’s a question about writing, from a longtime reader. With her permission, I’m putting it here so everyone can share the answer. If you want to send more questions, let me know. I’m probably too lazy to create a new site feature for them, but I don’t mind giving advice when I can.
Gwen,
I have had an idea for a book for several years. It is something I would really like to do in my ample spare time, like you have plenty of it yourself. [She’s being sardonic, y’all. She’s a single mom, too. –GGZ] How do you work it in? My girlfriends thought it is a great idea and I would mainly be editing it since each short chapter would be from different contributors. I even have a title. I really should do this. How the heck do you get started?Vicki
The answer: You just do. You just start it, and work on it until it’s done. That’s it.
The trick, though, is getting yourself to actually start it. You say you want to do it, you say your friends think it’s a great idea, and then you tell me (or yourself?) that you “really should do this.”
Do you really want to do it? If so, how bad? For instance, is this project worth giving up prime time TV for? Is it worth doing on your lunch hour? Is it worth waking up an hour extra in the mornings, so you can have time alone, while the kids are asleep?
If so, you should totally do it. Set a goal for yourself. I’m assuming your goal is to get this work published, right? Set a realistic timeline in which to achieve the pieces of your goal. Like, it may take six months or a year to compile the work, then three to six months to edit it, and then you may give yourself a year or two to submit to agents and publishers. Look at your schedule and decide what you can do.
Then, just start. Or, if something is still holding you back after that, ask yourself what it is. Are you afraid of failure? Of rejection? Are you afraid to spend a lot of time on a project that might not succeed?
Admit the reason to yourself and then dismiss it. Stumble boldly forward. You only have one life to live, that you know of, so why the hell not take a chance on your dream.
