How We Keep on Truckin’

How We Keep On Truckin’

Happy American Wednesday from Oklahoma!

We were ready to nap at 9 am today. It’s our second full day and the past two nights have seen some interesting variations in sleeping patterns, as well as bed accoutrements that have included no pillows and not-quite-right pillows and a too-soft mattress.

Earlier today, I was consumed with self-introspection, weariness weighing on me like a stone. The effort required to move, to think, was like dragging myself through wet concrete. It seemed impossible to write and the temptation to lie around and do nothing was overwhelming me. In that instance, it’s hard to know what the cause is and what to do. It could merely be a mild case of jet lag, or the lack of direction that comes from not having a job or university to occupy me for the next few weeks… Or it could be the nagging dread that plagues me and makes me drag my feet whenever I try to think about the long road ahead.

It seems so long. It’s intimidating to look at the people who are being published and recognised for their work, who are being paid to blog or write professionally. The number of people who are (apparently) succeeding in this career boggles my mind.

This morning I read an excellent post by Elisa Gabbert on Electric Literature (check it out here http://electricliterature.com/the-blunt-instrument-on-dealing-with-rejection-the-anxiety-of-publishing/) in response to a write-in asking about dealing with rejection and the anxiety of publishing. There were a lot of great points in there, including noting that reasons for a piece of work being rejected are often many and varied and completely beyond prediction at any one point in time. I, for one, find that incredibly reassuring. (I’d like to also say that for anyone who is aspiring to be a writer or a poet and has questions, Electric Literature’s ‘Dear Blunt Instrument’ is an absolute must. Elisa Gabbert is a gold mine of knowledge and information who happily shares her wisdom succinctly, but more importantly, in a way that is both easy to understand and easy to begin to put into practice. Check it out!)

But I think the best point in that article was about finding an alternate method of achieving the external validation you desire, rather than relying on being published. Building a community (regardless of whether its in your local area or online) allows you to use that community to read your work and provide feedback and for you to do the same for others. That is my aspiration for this blog, in time: to promote my work, to hear and consider others’ opinions as well as to facilitate other writers doing the same. It’s certainly a work in progress, but this kind of venture can only succeed by people getting involved and interested – so please feel free to do so and to pass my work and details about my blog to aspiring writers who are also looking to build their community.

Finally, the biggest lesson that I’ve learnt (and am still learning) is just to let it all go. There are certainly many, many amazing writers in the world; but at the end of the day, none of them are me and none of them write precisely the way I write. Rather than getting caught up in being intimidated or discouraged by my relative lack of experience and exposure, I just need to go and write something. The best thing to do is always that – just write.

— A.