Satisfying Work
March 4, 2002
7:21 a.m.
I hate to suggest such a situation, but I think I'm almost caught up everything I was letting drop while finishing the novel.   When I completed my first novel length manuscript, I walked around for a couple weeks in a post-completion daze. When I finished the second one, it was the same thing. And I think it's been like that for all the rest. But this one has been different in a lot of ways, and so I guess I shouldn't be surprised that I don't think I'm feeling a great separation anxiety. The work is done--or nearly so. I'm just moving on. I started a new short story this morning. Picked up about a thousand words. I like where it's going, but I'm not yet certain how it's going to get there. That's all right, of course. It's just a first draft. I'll give it a few days to grow up. [grin]. I packaged up more stories yesterday, including retouching a pair of older stories that I've liked, but held back because I didn't think they were the best I could do with them. Now they're shorter. (I took a little of my own medicine, Matt). Now they're better. I wrote my part of the collaboration I spoke about in my last entry. I'm being productive. I like this. I think I was worried that I wouldn't be able to shift gears and get back into telling stories that weren't associated with the book. Silly me, I know, but until I did this, I had never taken more than an entire year away from the process of telling 2-5 stories a month. It's a strange thing to change a work habit like that. In her book Bird by Bird, Anne Lamott wrote "The best thing about being an artist, instead of a madman who writes letters to the editor, is that you get to engage in satisfying work. Even if you never publish a word, you have something to pour yourself into." I think I've always said things like that myself--though not always so concisely. I've said that because I think that. But there is a difference between thinking something, and knowing beyond all doubt that this something is true. Writing this book has taught me what it really means. Don't get me wrong. I expect I will eventually publish this book. I've done everything I could with it. It's a good story. It should be fine. If I or an editor (and I) decide it needs something more, I'll work on it again until it's done for good. I want it to be published, and I think it will be (if I can be so pompously bold). But my feeling right now has nothing to do with whether the work is publishable. Along the way I've been aggravated, and frustrated, and pleasantly surprised, and angry, and upset, and elated, and depressed. But now that it's "finished" nothing can change the fact that I'm proud of the work I've done. I can go to sleep without worrying about whether I've given my best effort. For me, this makes all the difference. Friday was opening day at Mecca, so we went, of course. It didn't even snow. Have a great day.  Daily Persistence is © Ron Collins |
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"Good things happen to teams that work hard." Reece Gaines Louisville basketball player Charlotte - 88 Louisville - 90 Cincinnati - 71 Louisville - 74 |
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