Spaghetti Mush
July 26, 2000
7:15 a.m.
I had lunch with my boss yesterday. It started as I was sitting alone at a table in the cafeteria, reading a book -- Michio Kaku's Hyperspace, if you should need to know. My team had just completed a release that we had struggled over for the past three days, and I was taking a few minutes away from the environment. I know you know how it can get. My boss joined me, so I put the book down. "What are you reading?" he asked. "Oh," I said, waving my hand toward the book. Just some mathematical science stuff. Hyperspace is, for those who aren't familiar with it, a book on multi-dimensional space. You know, weird math constructs, extradimensional theory, superstrings, and a bunch of strained comparisons to the real word that never seem to quite make it through. Seriously, you just can't use real world examples to truly explain multidimensional realities. It just make's people's brains into spaghetti mush. Assuming they exist, anyway. :) Who would know? Anyway, we talked for awhile about work stuff and about personal stuff. Then my boss asked a question that people occasionally ask. "How's your writing coming?" "Not too bad, overall, I suppose," I replied. I told him about the pending sale to Artemis and the Analog cover. This is what he meant by How's your writing coming? you see. So we talked about the outer trappings--publications, exposure, the way art is chosen to accompany works in magazines and on books. What I found most interesting, was that when he first asked me the question, I almost answered him differently. I almost answered him with the answer I would give another writer who asked the question. "How's your writing coming?" is a different question when asked by a writer, you see. "How's your writing coming?" when asked by a writer is focused on the front end, its focused on the work. It's another way of asking "Are you comfortable with what you're doing?" "Is it flowing?" "How are you feeling?" "How is your writing coming along?" It's all the same thing. But I talked with my boss about it, and I enjoyed the conversation. Talking about writing is always fun. When I got home, I picked up a rejection. The hand-written note essentially said, "I liked your story, and if you send it places I know it will sell. But right now I'm looking for strange pieces with no possibility of being commercial successes." This is almost a direct quote. I stood there and just shook my head. I'm actually being rejected because my story has a chance at commercial success. Holy beejeebies. What a strange world. "How's your writing coming?" I thought. Sometimes, I guess, it's just better avoid the question and move on.   Have a great day.  Daily Persistence is © Ron Collins |
|
Working in silence today...nothing on the CD |
BACK TO 
|