When Your Story Calls

When your story calls, do it a favor: listen and answer.  Listening is half the battle, but once you get listening down, you realize the work is far from over.  You must answer.

I have gotten very adept at listening to the stories that float, or blaze, into my mind.  However, most times I let them wander aimlessly, waiting in the foyer to be called upon.  Most times I get to them much later than their appointment called for.

Tonight, however, I am pleased that I answered and quickly.  I didn't wait for my mind to cool, I sat down and blazed up the fires in my mind and wrote an entire story I came up with only yesterday.  For once, I had no deadline, no assignment, no set goal to accomplish any type of specific writing for this week outside the realm of school (if you saw my schedule, you'd understand why).  However, I felt the desire to write, and I answered it without excuse or procrastination.

And now my portfolio is one story heavier.  From beginning to end, it is only 955 words, but that's 955 words of an entire story, and 955 words more in my repertoire than there was this morning.  I am happy.

This is writing, for me.  This is the fun and the excitement.

The business side, meanwhile, is rapidly approaching.  I asked my husband to assist me in working out some kinks in that area, and he's doing some research for me as well in regards to agents, contests, et cetera.  This way, I can take care of the writing and editing, and when I'm done, I will have all this deliciously terrifying publishing information to begin submitting to.

I have a feeling that this summer will be different from all the rest.  And I believe it's about time.  I have my Creative Writing teacher to thank for that as well.  When he talked about the anticlimactic feeling of being published, it made me feel a lot better, ironically enough.  It seemed to be the exact thing that I needed to hear to give myself ground in the publishing arena.

So stay tuned for some future posts this year about submissions and the journey of going through all of those.  I'm sure many will be enlightening, frightening, and more than likely, worth a few laughs at my upcoming experiences.

Current Book: To The Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf

I think one of the great things that fiction can do is give us the second chance that life denies us. ~Paul Theroux