This is the longest I've gone without posting in years. It's not that anything's wrong, really, it's just that I started a new job in late March, and it's absolutely taking everything out of me to keep up. I decided to switch jobs somewhat late in life because I really needed a change. I had a job I could do well and that mostly only required forty hours a week plus maybe an hour or two of skills maintenance a day on my own. That was good for writing, but it wasn't good for me personally, for reasons that are specific to that job and too boring to go into here. When I saw a chance to do something new, I took it, even though I knew it was a stretch and a risk.
I'm working around the clock now to try not to fail at it. That's great for reviving my belief that I can actually adapt to new things, but it ain't so great for writing.
Essentially, I'm having the problem every writer has had since the beginning of writing. Either you have a job that sucks but is easy, and you have time to write but then you deal with penury, or you have a good job that takes care of your life needs, but it also eats up your time. I'm not complaining. I made my choice a long time ago. Family comes first. Maybe in a few years, when my son is eighteen, I'll feel like I can radically change my life again, take something that's just a minimum-effort bill-payer and really spend the last years of my working life trying to leave something as a writer people will remember me for.
In the meantime, nothing's wrong. Writing taking a back seat for a minute is part of the plan. In the past, a break from writing has usually meant a outburst of productivity sometime later, so that's what I'm hoping will happen. Whenever it is that I'm not drowning in work that's all new to me.
I feel bad I'm not reviewing Pushcart or O.Henry this year, and might not even be able to do BASS in the fall. As rinky-dink as my blog is, I like providing the most thoughtful feedback I can for writers who often don't get the serious consideration they deserve. But it can't be helped. There's no way out of this now but all the way in, so all the way in I go.
Good luck with all of this, especially the child-rearing. I'm told it calls for focus and moral oversight, though as far as I can tell, my own folks applied neither. Still, I'm sure your boy will thank you someday!
ReplyDeleteAnd if it makes you feel any better, I'm pretty sure the O Henry anthology didn't publish this past year; they seem to be doing a reconsideration after the departure of Laura Furman. Sad to see such an outlet have a hiccup, but apparently they'll be back next year, and with luck you'll be in it. Your prize-winning story has been ordered and may even be waiting for me Monday at the PO.
Cheers, and don't forget to look out at the sea.