Well, I'm making good progress on the goals I set out in January! My short story for submission needs one more rewrite and a couple beta readers to tell me what they think, and then that will be good to go. And my writing group is tackling one of my manuscripts for each of the next three meetings, so hopefully that will give me some ideas and a rekindling of passion for the project that I can use to try to actually finish it!
I also got my Independently Published Authors Liaison membership through the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers this month. So that's fun :)
I've been reading The Paris Wife, which is about Hemingway's first wife Hadley. It's a beautifully written novel and I highly recommend it. But it's also providing me with a little discomfort, which has been interesting. Hemingway is depicted (as, I think, are many prolific/successful artists) as being wholly, life-consumingly, devoted to his art.
I guess this is a variation on the oft-bemoaned modern frustration with not being able to just do art.. But, I very rarely feel totally consumed by what I am writing. Certainly not to the exclusion of my relationships (or food!). But when I had the time, I didn't lose myself in my writing either. I had six months last summer to dedicate to writing, and while I learned a lot and did get some stuff done, it wasn't like I was obsessive. Does that make me less of a writer? Mean there's less chance that I have what it might take to be successful? Or is it merely a reflection of having more facets to my self than just my writer identity?
Not really sure what the answers to those questions are.. But there they are.
How are y'all doing this month?
