8.27.2011

This, That and The Other Thing

A little of this. "This" is my life in the real world. That is, I have a day job. True, it's only part-time, but that makes me a part-time writer. A lot of writers have day jobs. Unless you're Lee Child or James Patterson or J.T. Ellison or Tess Gerritsen or Nora Roberts or Charlaine Harris, you pretty much have to have a day job, because there's that little matter of having bills to pay and kids to send to college and ... well, you get the general idea. I'm sure there are more of the fortunate few I didn't mention by name, but it's a scant few compared to the rest of us thousands of writers who haven't achieved that status. The writers I did name have bills to pay and kids to send to college, too, but they also have something the rest of us don't - writing is their day job. It's a goal, a dream, an ambition that a lot of us aspire to, to be able to write and not have to work a day job. I know I do - I want to be a writer full-time, instead of part-time. Now that's not to say I don't love my day job. I wouldn't be there if I didn't, because it's truly a blessing to work where I work. But I know in my heart of hearts what I'm meant to do, and I look forward to that "someday" when working a day job will be something I won't have to do.

"This" is part of what's been occupying a majority of my time over the past several months. But only part. Read on.

A little of that. "That" would be the other half of my life in the real world - my family: one very supportive and understanding hubby; three great kids; and our zoo (three dogs and three cats). Each and every one requires a chunk of my time, though obviously for different reasons. Our summer seemed nonstop this year, filled with church camps and fishing trips, movies, shopping for groceries and shopping for school, a new drainage system in the front flowerbed and a new puppy, car repairs and car repairs (and yes, I said that twice), visiting relatives, birthday parties and family dinners, both in and out. Our oldest is out on her own now. Our son and his girlfriend found an apartment to share for their last two years at college. Our youngest is deciding on her own career path and where she wants to go to school next year. All of them still need advice from mom and dad on a regular basis. Not to mention that my husband and I do like to spend time together occasionally. But there are only so many hours in a day, and only one of me to go around. It's a balancing act. Which brings us to ...

A whole lotta the other thing. A writer's life is a lot of hurry up and wait. Hurry, get that manuscript finished. Hurry, write that query letter. Hurry, get it submitted. Now wait. And wait. And wait some more. And while you're waiting, hurry up and write the next one. Over the past few months (in between the this and the that), I have been working furiously on a revision of a novel I wrote some years back, whose time just hadn't come yet. Now it seems it may have - it's being looked at. In the meantime, we're still waiting to hear on the first one, which is in the hands of an agent who offered to read it. We're in that fingers-crossed holding pattern at the moment with the first two, but I'm about to start working on the next one. Because that's what we do, us writers. We write.

Among other things - you know, a little of this and a little of that.

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