Tuesday, October 4, 2016

September: Reflections and Rejections

Days are whipping by.  October, my favorite month, is here.  We're getting into the homestretch of 2016.

September was an interesting (and, somewhat disappointing) month:

* I started making Halloween cards. (I've been making cards for years.)
* I realized I was too stressed right around the time I stopped feeling well.
* I read eighteen books...
* ... and quit reading three.
* I received eleven rejections (about one every three days).
*  I submitted like a fiend, in spurts.
* I redesigned my blog... by myself.

The rejections aren't bothering me (quite as much) as before.  Unless it's a publication I really hope for, I handle it without tears... or beating myself up.  So, there's an upside.  Two of the rejections were contests, though.

Poetry still comes, sporadically, but fiction is hard-won for me... lately.  Last month, I was certain I hadn't written anything besides blog posts since my release from being housebound on June 30th.  But I have.  I just didn't realize it.  I do that a lot, forget the work I put in and berate myself for having no discernible progress.

I don't think my blog redesign looks like it's the space of a professional writer.  And that used to bother me.  Most writer blogs have black and white with nothing like "fun" or "whimsy" involved unless the writer is a children's author.  It's too bad, too.  Writers are some of the only creative people who feel the need for pomposity and pretension.  The fact that I hated my blog because it strayed from what's "normal" is sad.

How did your September go?





4 comments:

  1. My September was tolerable. It ended on a high note, so that's good. Not looking forward to midterms the next two weeks, though.

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    1. You shall do well. Perhaps it will be a rough start, but you will settle and things will sway back to normal.

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  2. I like the new look :-) I'm happy, too, to hear that you're taking rejections in stride and keeping moving forward.

    Like you, I tend to feel like I haven't done "enough" and totally fail to realize how much I really did do. It's been helping me to make a to-do list with a to-done list next to it. I list all the things I got done, even things that weren't on the to-do list. It helps fight that defeated feeling.

    As for me, September was reasonably productive. I finished a novella and a short story. I submitted a bunch of work (and am collecting the rejections now). I'm in a waiting place, while manuscripts and edits are with others, so I'm using the time to write short things and to make sure my work is out there being considered.

    @mirymom1 from
    Balancing Act

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    1. New projects are always best during waiting. I'm supremely glad your September was good for your writing.

      I read Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert last night. It's a decent book on creativity, though doesn't have more than a few small moments of takeaway for creative people who are already creating and publishing/sharing actively.

      Thank you for saying you like the new look for the blog. I chose light gray for the body instead of white to make it less straining on the eyes. Picmonkey came in handy to make the collage for the header.


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