It was not a great day. It started off hot, like all the other days recently. And the forecast says only: "Hotter than average", and "getting hotter." Outside is doing its impression of an oven. Dazzling sunlight. Not conducive to work. Not conducive to focus. So... after dealing with bureaucracy, trying to phone, trying to get people to reply, I retired to my cellar. But still, despite the several-degree-temp-drop, I still couldn't get down to anything.
Faffing ensued. Much faffing (phaphing?). I assembled some prompts for myself, odd phrases from poems and things like that, to kick start me. But - nothing. Just frustration. More Facebook, more online scrabble. And much, much less writing.
Ok, I decided to abandon it all and watch an episode of Eureka, a wonderfully odd sort of sci-fi series from the US. Love it! I thought that might stimulate the creative juices (watching TV is always "research into narratives and character development"!). And, well, it did. I got the prompts back out and wrote a poem, and felt cleansed. Ahhhh.
Then this afternoon, more and more heat. The air con had no choice but to become active, it was unbearable. Crabby. Very crabby we both were. And then plagiarism reared its ugly head - again. Not my work, but a friend's. Again. Awful, awful, awful. Again. Will this despicable person never learn?
A trip to the post office, where there was no queue but much aircon, made things better: two literary magazines, Electric Literature and Ninth Letter, and a review copy of J Robert Lennon's short story collection, Pieces for the Left Hand. Nothing cheers the overheated heart like great reading material!
And then tonight, the best of all: an email from the editor of an online mag saying that he doesn't normally do this, but he's "been enjoying my writing so much" and would like me to submit something. Love this. Love this enormously! It has happened a few times, and it is just the nicest thing, most surprising and delightful. The online mag, which I won't name in case the editor doesn't want it known that he has ever done this kind of thing, likes experimental fiction. Right up my street. Will keep you updated!
It's cooling down now and I'm cheering up. Night is falling. I love the darkness. Have a lovely evening.
13 comments:
Isn't it great when a lousy day blossoms into a good night?
So good to have your day turn out so well in the end. Oh yes!
Hey, lots of lovely things here. I am DETERMINED to focus on the good from now on.
Thanks Elizabeth and Barbara, if the day had ended as badly as it seemed to be going, that would have been pretty hard.
V - let's all try and do that as much as we can, while standing up for our rights, too. Hope
I hope everyone's day is ending better than it started!
brava tania! a good start to the week too ...
Tania so glad your day has ended well. I will not comment on mine for fear I may bugger yours up- it also involved weather and post offices, but I'll say no more. Wonderful an editor doing that.
V- I wouldn't try to be too happy, I'm not sure it's healthy. I find my crabbiness metre goes wonky when I do that.
A good end to the day indeed. And this is how writing should be, you struggle with your words maybe but eventually you create a new story or poem or whatever. And you can be proud of the time it took to find your inspiration and shine your words. The person who steals can never feel that sense of achievement.
how wonderful to be solicited for a submission, well done. Don't worry Tania, the heat over in Bristol will be much cooler and you will write to your heart's content
Sounds like a perfect day to me, bar the heat...You're the second person I've heard mention 'Eureke' so must try and tune in. F
Fionnuala, nice to meet you! Do get hold of Eureka! I don't watch it through the "official" channels, if you know what i mean :)
Love the way your day turned out. Last week in my house we had a run of bad days suddenly turned into good by the news that my near penniless daughter had won a prize (substantial money prize!) from the Royal College of Art where she studies.Suddenly the world seemed a different place!
Avril, huge congratulations to your daughter! These things often come just at the right time, how wonderful. I remember Clare Wigfall telling me that she won the National Short Story Award just as she reached the last £50 in her bank account and was contemplating getting a "real job". Excellent!
Not sure what this means but just got a spam comment here from "sexy" in what looked like Japanese. I am assuming it's spam. Perhaps it was the vital piece of the puzzle I'm missing. Gone forever.
That's lovely news, T. Congratulations. It is such a pleasure and honour to be actively sought out in this hugely competitive business. And I love your description of keeping on pootling about until the inspiration for work finally came.
Must be something in the air. I had a poor start to the day - can't get a story secure enough on the page (oh it's blinding in my head!) for Manchester, but then got that lovely news about the book.
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