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?
My September was tolerable. It ended on a high note, so that's good. Not looking forward to midterms the next two weeks, though.
ReplyDeleteYou shall do well. Perhaps it will be a rough start, but you will settle and things will sway back to normal.
DeleteI like the new look :-) I'm happy, too, to hear that you're taking rejections in stride and keeping moving forward.
ReplyDeleteLike 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
New projects are always best during waiting. I'm supremely glad your September was good for your writing.
DeleteI 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.