Struggling to the way

Not exactly magic this service of mine,

They got me throwing, flipping pancakes

At the Café Dime.

I wait around most of the time

I could wait on you with pleasantries

And a cool calm smile.

And wean you on my charm,

Every Time.

It’s not that I hate this,

But you can tell I take my time.

I must do things right,

Because the boss says, but

That’s fine.

I’ve got a baby and a husband,

And a family, too.

We’re all in this together,

I try to play the thing cool.

Mortgage piling up, heavy going some of the time

Many other things I want,

I am terminally out of dime

It is my life,

I know it is,

I cannot feel it so well now.

In the middle of the day,

A line sinks me down in

The here and now.

I think about tomorrow as I come and go,

Then you’re the customer who comes through the door,

I pretend I am blind.

But I see you all the time.

I know you see me: Am I just an object to you?

To do this and that

Without a care. Do I even care about you?

I turn over another day at the office,

The Café Dime pays the bills. But I pray for solace,

I want to find the way through.

Older writers keep on going

The musing said to the aspiring novelist, the novelist was getting no younger:

Hope the younger ones do well for the traditional publishers that are still going. Depending on what they would write for them. Nothing short than…As for you, you may just find something else. Something better. So, for you, I will keep the possibility of ‘afresh’ avenues open. But keep knocking on the door, from time to time.

Editing to personal satisfaction

Whatever you do do it well-

Walt Disney

I’d like to avoid the difficult editing stages of polishing a piece of writing, so I may delay doing it, even so ending up having to do it, because I just gotta. It is thinking about what I want out of the piece that motivates me to “rise up” mentally and take the bull to the horns as they say. Without a good polish, I am left with regret and sorrow over a piece that could have been so much better with a polish. Then, there’s someone saying, “it’s all good” which makes me feel better, but not reassured. To be reassured is knowing that the piece is good in my own mind–but thanks for the encouragement, very much. Keep on polishing until satisfied.

Persevering

My first draft looked at a little tatty, what’s new? I was going to flag it. Never to submit the piece. So, I said to myself, leave that genre of writing alone. A day leaving it alone did wonders. Then, I thought, try harder. And I think the piece looks better than before. In a few days, I can send it. A key to not surrendering, a key to not chucking in a piece, is to try harder, when one can’t be bothered. That’s in my experience.

To revise or not to revise

Writing is a catch-22, but I’m not talking ’bout the film or novel on which a film is based. Catch-22 is a novel and a film, but let me use that title’s meaning for the purposes of this post. Saying catch-22 is synonymous with making a choice between two equal values and one or the other won’t really do considering that you’re in a predicament between the two. So, writing is a catch-22 in that sense or something like it. I mean that one may write a piece. The writer thinks he should revise it out of the normal process, and also thinks it’s probably good as it is and doesn’t need revising. What does the writer do? This is my predicament at the moment. I would say to myself, just wait. Let the piece smolder under the surface for a while until it’s ready to resurface and face the writer once again. Then, all becomes clear. 

 

Another submission

It is not an easy road getting published, but I had some good news about a month ago that a meditation I submitted to a journal is being seriously considered. It has passed the “first round” or phase one and is on the short list as it was. The outcome, I’ve been told, will take quite a while, which goes to show how rigorous getting selected for publication can be. Not easy.

The journey of writing: exploring something new

While on the road of writing, if it’s full-time, part-time, casual, or as one can write in-between the necessities of life, sometimes there’s the urge to reach beyond the boundaries of one’s normal genres of writing. I’ve desired it and tried it, but tended to fall back on the predictable or the road well-traveled.

Research, for the fun of it?

I love researching for the sake of it, to dwell on and absorb knowledge, but whenever a writer wants to apply research, one should know what it’s useful for before starting. Is it for a book? Is it to learn something to pass onto your readers? Pretty obvious stuff really. The trick is knowing why? Maybe research for fun, full stop, no more than that. Become not a know-it-all, but useful in some regard that you never thought about before. Research for fun may come in handy somehow.

Deciding on different versions of a scene

If I have different versions of a scene, I can see the differences between the versions. I ask myself which is best? The original scene may be better then the second or third version, or the second and third versions are better. How do I tell? I guess if I get too involved with editing one version, proving that it’s going nowhere.

Projects on delivery

Takes time. Two projects in effect, taking time on them both. Rejections, had a couple, but their mist dissipates soon after. Successes, too, lifts one up. It’s not everything. Frank Sinatra sings. The sun still shines. Life can be fine.

Undelivered, but all else done

Devotion written this week; signed and sealed, but not delivered, yet.

A calm spirit in submitting is better

This week writing has been writing a devotion based on old notes of my bible reading, a humor piece that I completed and submitted, and a significant revise of a poetry. Patience and time is a key to working on pieces, though I may be tempted to get the work done fast, so I can move on to the next thing. No, don’t do that. A calm spirit is better. Patience and time gets things done better.

Approaching publishers with the picture book idea

Over the last couple of weeks I’ve been writing a children’s short story, originally intended for a picture book. The inspiration was in my garden. I may approach publishers, but on speculation that they may or may not publish it. Of course there are the usual doubts that it won’t work for children, it’s too Watership-downish, although Watership Down was a goldmine in the end.

Poetry in motion

Was looking to submit a story, but on second thoughts, it’s more poetry in motion than fiction. Have two weeks before the deadline.