365 days of being a writer: day 147

I think it might be time for a you-know-what-I-hate post.

You know what I hate? When you tell a person a thing overandoverandover and they say, "no way, can't be, nuh-uh, thanks anyway," and THEN someone else comes along and says the same damn thing ONCE and all of a sudden it's like "oh-ho! what wise words! you are so right! thank you so much for your support and wisdom!"

And before you think I am being overly judgmental, this is a hate that comes from a place of perspective. I have been both the giver and the receiver of advice/opinion/experience that has gone unheeded.

Here's something true: it is far easier to be unheedful than to go unhed, so to speak. A couple of writer friends/mentors have told me overandover that you need to have faith in your writing, that if it is good, solid writing, that someday it will find a home. The ocean piece found a home and the starlings found a home. These are evidence that could point toward the veracity of the advice I have been given. Yet, still I fret, pine, and worry. I feel like I need closure before I can move forward--and this habit of thinking is death.

The trick is in balancing new writing with revision. (Which, by the way, I did neither today--I'm still trying to get through the turquoise book.)

I also hate when people who are not me are way more right than me. I hate it like a five year old hates to clean her room. But it's a discipline, just like any other--this learning to consider the possibilities.

Now to read.