Write from the Soul 9

I expected to be "off my blog" from the 23rd of December until the beginning of the year. But my computer got sick. Not just kind of sick, I mean the H1N1 of computer viruses paired up with the avian flu of malware. We're talking totally-hijacked-can't-even-see-the-desktop-icons kind of sick. So I had to give up the 'puter to my trusted computer doc. The result was 10 days- let me repeat that more cleanly- TEN DAYS without the computer! That meant no blogging, no blog reading, no email, no story writing (yes, I know they can be written out longhand but do you want to write out several thousand words and then go back later and type them all over? That sounds a lot like revisions to me and those aren't supposed to happen until after the story is actually written! I've never had an alcohol or drug addition  [thank goodness] but after the withdrawal I had from no computer for 10 days, I think I got a teensy peek at what it might be like. No DTs but I was jittery, couldn't concentrate, irritable, slept poorly, and was begging people to let me use their computers. I even got a ride to the library one day just to use their computer and check my email! (I felt so bad about doing that, that I asked the reference desk librarian to help me check out some sources (that I knew they didn't have) for one of my picture books. Is that pitiful, or what!!!!

I read the following on one of my favorite blogs, Plot This, by Katie Anderson and Sarah Frances Hardy. It really resonated with me and it fits perfectly with my writing goals for 2010.

I can write.

I can revise.

I can wait.

I can revise again.

And again.

And again.

I will trust.

I will endure.

I will succeed.

Sometimes we need to remind ourselves that this arduous process of attempting to be published is worth the uphill journey.