Day: August 16, 2007

Getting ready

By / August 16, 2007

Today was the day of “trying to wrap my head around the new school schedule that begins next week.” Last night was the night of “nearly hyperventalating in panic at the thought of all the things that our family needs to accomplish in the next 9 months.” Fortunately it occured to me that in order to get everything done I just need to put everything on the calendar and worry about it when I get there. Now is not the time to be fretting over shipping books. Now is the time to be making sure that there is a book to ship. So I decided that I’m not allowed to stress over anything beyond September 30. One month’s worth of things is plenty.

Tomorrow I’ll be going school shopping. Last year I was very smug in the fact that I didn’t have to do any school shopping because I’d been keeping track of clothing inventories and planning ahead by going to the thrift store. This year I forgot to plan ahead. Now I’m wondering why I didn’t do some of this back in June when I was fretting over having a long summer full of nothing. Whatever the reason I didn’t get it done and tomorrow I must shop. I’ll be starting at the thrift store because money is tight again. It does that when we go a whole year without releasing a new book.

School starts on Tuesday. I have many things to do to get ready.

The Deep End of the Pool

By / August 16, 2007 / 2 Comments

I think this writing group thing is like swimming. Everyone does some flailing and splashing and swallowing water. I actually do know how to swim. I know how to give and receive critiques. My techniques may need some polishing, but I’ve got the basics. But I’m like the child who swims great where she can touch the bottom, but panics when thrown into the deep end. The depth of the water below doesn’t change the mechanics of swimming at all, but knowing that the water is deep is scary.

By joining this writers group, I’ve jumped into the deep end of the pool. All of these people have been focused on writing-as-a-career for longer than I have. They’ve all had prior experience with writer’s groups. They’ve been to writers camps. Some of them are published novelists with agents and careers on the go. Every week I’m excited just to get to read what they’ve written. These are high-caliber writers. I’ve definitely jumped into the deep water.

I just need to remember that I know how to swim. I can do this as long as I can stop being afraid.

In the deep end it’s sink or swim. I don’t intend to sink, so I need to calm down and swim.