Daring To Try

Which requires a short break

I’m taking a new writing course, the kind that makes my hands clammy, makes the blood pound in my ears, my anxiety skyrocket, and my heart rate rise until I call my doctor, sure I’m in need of immediate medical attention, and she says, “Did you sign up for another writing course?”

I need to find a new doctor. This one’s so annoying.

At any rate, this five-week course is being taught by Susan Shapiro who, like all writing powerhouses, is incredibly bad at websites, but incredibly good at this writing stuff.

The first class was last night, it was almost three hours long, and I needed a lie-down when it was over simply due to the amount of information, instruction, and “oh damn, I guess I have to actually do shit” realization taking place in my sludgy brain.

The point of the course is to get something published somewhere. The point for me is to feel like I’m a grown-up, somewhat legitimate writer, and to prove this to myself by having someone else publish something I’ve written.

What can I say - therapy takes too long, and I’m too old to stop being neurotic now. At my age, neurosis is called “panache.” In another ten years I’ll be eccentric, if I’m rich enough. Otherwise I’ll just be, “That lady who talks to her fence.”

At the end of the first class the directive was clear: practice writing pitch letters per her course information and info in her book The Byline Bible, and send them in to her; Be prepared to have a bunch of stories almost ready to go; Stop publishing your stuff for free on blogs right now - you need to focus on getting your material in the hands of people who’ll publish it, and they don’t want recycled stuff, and you need to focus.

Well shit.

I asked a few friends what they thought of this idea.

But then I reminded them that we have to pay the bills, and that this is temporary. I asked them to imagine me as a glamorous writer type getting paid for our efforts, dreaming up new ideas and sitting back with a martini at the end of the day.

And they agreed that the return on investment might be good, especially if it made me young and blonde and likely to give them better treats and stop bitching about things all the time.

So I’ll be taking a hiatus from Pieces of String Too Small To Use for a few weeks as I complete my assignments.

I hope you’ll all be here when I get back, because you’ve brought me more joy, comfort, encouragement, and kindness than I can measure, truly. Plus I love writing it. And I’ll miss my friends here.

Of course, I’ll report if I actually manage to get something published, though there’s a fair chance I’ll chicken out. Apparently some people take this course several times before daring to try.

You have given me the courage to take a first step. Thank you so much for that.

I’ll see you when the course is over!

Marjie