The Amazing Adventures of Super Writer!
Posted on | August 25, 2006 | 1 Comment Leave a comment | Print This Post
That’s supposed to be me, if you haven’t figured it out yet. Oh, you haven’t? Well, I guess that makes sense, because I haven’t figured it out yet either!
How do other writers do it? I’d like to know. REALLY. The other night I had a major deadline and I thought I was going to make it, no sweat. I got up early that morning and cranked. But one thing led to another (I’m visiting my inlaws and at the mercy of dial-up and WordPerfect – I didn’t know either still existed) and before you could say “faster-than-a-speeding-bullet,” it was midnight and I had a sleeping baby in my lap as I stared bleary-eyed at the computer screen. I actually considered getting out my checkbook and sending back my advance to Berkley because it seemed like a near-certainty that they would ask for it back.
The funny thing is, as I sat there despondent with my 7-month old son (my 5 1/2 year old was sleeping peacefully in the other room, thank God), I thought of an email one of my sister-in-laws sent me when I first announced that GOOD THINGS was going to be published. It went along the lines of, “You see? You can have it all.” She was referring to family, marriage, career, writing. My first response was pure annoyance, probably because at that particular moment I had piles of laundry and hadn’t taken a shower in a week (okay, three days). Then I was suspicious – was she being sarcastic? (Typical sister-in-law drama.) I finally relaxed a bit and decided that she was sincere and kind to have even sent me a note at all. Then, as I re-read her email, I concluded that she must be a near genius. As she signed off, she added, “It just takes longer, that’s all.”
In my case, ten years longer. Writers often lament about their prolonged first sale – it took me ten years (TEN YEARS, in case anyone missed that), to get my act together. So, yes, I suppose we can have it all … eventually. And if you saw me this morning at the UPS store as I finagled my final copyedited manuscript (5 pounds of gobbley gook), a stroller, a car seat, and two bags of back-to-school clothing (okay, there was some new make-up in one of the bags – I’m going to give the Bare Minerals line a try), you’d have been impressed. Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound? I’m all over it.
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September 12th, 2006 @ 4:58 am
I think you’re ahead of the curve! It took me 15 (and counting). You go girl!