Life Outside
March 21, 2002
7:27 a.m.
"Have you read xxxxxx in the latest F&SF?" Matt Horgan said to me. "No. Not yet. I always read the shorter pieces first." "Me, too. Let me know what you think of it." "All right." This conversation occurred when Matt and I did the lunch thing a day or two ago. We try to get together every few weeks to kibbutz about things at work and compare what we’re writing. "What are you working on?" I asked. Matt proceeded to list where his stories were and where he has been rejected and what he was planning on next. On the one hand it was fun to hear. Matt's gotten his approach in gear, and he's starting to create material at a routine rate. On the other hand it bothered me because all I have to really talk about is the book--which is going slower than I wanted this week because I've focused on a few other things (I bribed the book to remain quiet by promising I would finish it for good next week, but it apparently has a short memory span, and continues to sit on my desk and whisper taunting whispers). The few other things that have gotten in the way have a little to do with work, a little to do with Louisville basketball, and a lot to do with the baseball league I slipped into ... not that it matters. Well, it does matter, because the baseball thing is something that is less "important" than other things, and due to an approaching deadline I've let it take a higher priority. This realization struck me yesterday sometime: I'm having fun with my "free time" and I'm not writing. I'll admit I'm having a problem with this. It's good, I think. But still. I've spent so much of the past few years focusing every spare moment on the craft. I've dug my heels in on this book and am immersed in making it as good as I can make it. Now that some other piece of life has wedged itself into a crack in the shell of the real world, well, it feels weird. It feels like this thing is encroaching. Which it is. And I think it's okay. Don't you? It's fine to have a life that includes other things besides family, work, and writing. Isn't it? I supposed I'll have my answer when my "deadline" passes next week. If I'm finished with the book then, this other dalliance is all right. If not, then I've slipped up. Oh, the excitement, eh?   Have a great day.  Daily Persistence is © Ron Collins |
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