The Writing Life

I have really been enjoying writing full-time from home(supported by some part-time gambling) but it has some drawbacks. This is a bit of a ramble, but bear with me.

When I had the dayjob, I was a busy guy — between work and family obligations I was fighting for writing time. Days might pass without me being able to check personal e-mail or open the stack of mail on my desk or write a line or two. I was occupied. Often I forgot about the stories I had sent out and when story rejections arrived they were just a momentarily ‘darn’ and I moved on. I had a lot to do.

But now I’m always aware of exactly where the stories are, and how long they’ve been there. And because I’m writing full-time, when writing rejections arrive, they are usually interrupting. And maybe because I’m focusing more attention on them (the not as busy thing, right) they bother me more than they used to. The only solution I have really found so that they don’t nag at me is to send them out right away — which unfortunately interrupts my current project.

Now, I’m definitely not complaining; think of this more as a ‘watch out’ if you’re heading into this wild career. Now that I’ve dived into the writing life, I’m feeling the ups and downs more intensely than when writing was just the thing I did when I had a few spare moments. Rejections can certainly affect my performance* now in a way that they never used to.

* And by performance, I meant ‘writing performance’, in case that wasn’t clear. Just saying.