On Writing

Writer’s block might make my life difficult, but it can’t keep me down forever. Though I did not manage to finish my story for the latest round of NPR’s Three-Minute Fiction, I did write a rough draft of a short children’s story for the Highlights Fiction Contest. The deadline for the contest is January 31, 2013. That means I’ve got plenty of time. My plan is to write several appropriate stories and then send my favorite. Now, even if I don’t manage any more stories, I have one to work with. Plus I enjoyed writing it.

I once made a promise regarding another story that I wrote a long time ago. My promise was to submit the story for publication “by the end of the summer.” I didn’t, though, and I felt bad about it for a long time. A couple of weeks ago, I finally sent the story in. You could say it was “by the end of the summer” this year. Somehow that makes me feel a little better about the whole thing. Now I’m looking forward to getting my first rejection letter. I mean, no one gets published their first time out. The most you can hope for is an explanation of what you did wrong. So let’s hear it for constructive criticism! I hope they hit me with their best.