February 2024
A new year, working on the Dracula novel. Wrote a couple of new short stories and sent them out into the world. Sending stories and poems out–you think it is your best work until you look at it six months or a year later and wonder: what was I thinking? Who wrote this crap? Thing is, you have to have a little ego to brave rejections. One must believe in their work, though not blindly. That’s one of the reasons I stick with the old methods instead of self publishing. If a piece gets accepted, you know at least one reader liked it enough to publish. I’ve met a lot of self-published authors at book fairs. A few are good, but most need a lot of editing and work. It’s a conundrum, have enough belief that your story is good enough but enough humility to recognize that you might need a professional eye or two to look it over.
Other goings on–had a swollen cornea that needed surgery, a transplant actually. An out patient procedure but who knew that you could even do that? Takes a good long while to heal and for vision to return…in small, very slow increments.
When the writing just doesn’t seem to move along, I’ve been playing more guitar, learning some Rolling Stones songs. Have a lot more respect for Keith Richards since trying to play his pieces.
About five pieces out making the rounds. Will post if and when they get accepted.