fess up friday…

the what have you done for me lately edition

i can have a major problem with what i like to call the janet jackson complex, as in “what have you done for me lately?” when it comes to myself. i am much more likely to zone in on what i have yet to accomplish, what remains undone than celebrate my wins. i am the head cheerleader and champion for my friends, but when it comes to my own accomplishments, not so much.

often such a “win” goes uncelebrated or barely acknowledged, but luckily i have GREAT friends who don’t allow me to play small. friends who catch me when i am playing small and use the appropriate amount of force to correct my attitude. so instead of complaining that i’m still not finished with this section, that i still haven’t been properly recording my hours, that it is not going FAST enough, that i’ve been worried about the relevance of the whole novel (will anybody even care?), i will celebrate a win. (did you notice how i still got to complain about those things? slick, i tell you).

but anyhoo, this year i set a goal to submit work at least 12 times this year. this goal would be more submissions than I have made in the oh, decade or so since i started writing. but yesterday, a month BEFORE deadline i’ve submitted to 13 places with another on my desk to mail out tomorrow. i have been terribly slack about submitting my work, but i wanted to show the universe that i was fully participating in co-creating my success as a writer. so i committed to play the literary lotto at least 12 times this year. and i did it. now, i haven’t gotten a single acceptance yet, but that really doesn’t bother me. i’m proud i did it. yay me!

now, if i could just finish this novel quicker. ;o) just kidding…kinda…

onward!

literary lotto…

i am always surprised at the divine timing of the universe. i’ve been off my game lately. or maybe i have been right on track, because i’ve learned that what sometimes looks like procrastination is actually preparation. but i settled down to get some work done on the last day of september and as a stall decided to check my submission calendar. i made a goal to at least apply to 12 places this year (either contests or journals). there were a handful of contests with an october 1 deadline. so what did i do? i decided to play a lightning round of literary lotto. i scanned the guidelines, eliminated the ones that i wasn’t eligible for and managed to get 3 applications in the mail. just two more submissions and i’ll reach my goal for the year! i did all this in spite of the evil car dealership insisting that i needed new tires and my 30,000 mile service. that HUGE unexpected expense almost took me out, but i gathered myself together and decided to get it done.

i haven’t gotten a single acceptance so far, but i don’t really get bummed about rejections. i guess my philosophy is that just like the lotto you have to PLAY to WIN. as a writer i know that i can get so caught up in the WORK that i forget that the work has to live outside of me and my computer. so those envelopes are my declaration to the universe that i am in the sea of writers. that i am an active participant in this world. now that might not hold as much weight as a publication credit, but sending that work out in the world made this literary life that i’m crafting feel a bit more real.