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Friday, July 22, 2011

Can't Sleep So I Write

I haven't done this in a long time -- get up and write in the middle of the night. I really like the feel of doing this. I'm sitting alone in my home office with the only light on being the one from the computer screen. It's like I'm in my own little world. I have the window open to catch the light nighttime breezes and I can hear trucks rumbling by on the freeway some distance away as the night air seems to enhance sounds.

I've resisted the urge to do this nighttime writing for a few months even though my creative juices seem to flow in this quiet time. I've not done it because I've let writing rejections get to me. I let too many letters or emails that have said "thank you for your interest, but your writing doesn't fit our needs at this time" get to me. So I put much of my writing aside.

In the last writer's conference I attended, I asked an editor about those letters as I pitched a story one of their publications had previously rejected. She told me the story had promise, but that maybe the only reason the story was rejected was either they had just published something similar (it was a child's story about being a new kid in town)or maybe it just needed a little more tweaking. She even gave me some suggestions.

That gave me a little motivation so I sent out a couple of picture book stories to an agent I met at that same conference. I still haven't heard back from the agent. Then I let my other writing slip.

Today things changed.

My husband called me at work and let me know that two short pieces I had written were accepted and I received a check in the mail. I have no problem with him reading my mail especially when it's about my writing. He knows how to soften the blow when it's a rejection and how to encourage me when it's an acceptance.

I had sent these pieces out in November and had given up hope that they would be accepted. I thought it was just another silent rejection. Now I am energized again, but tired. I've now re-written a story to send out for an anthology. Now it's time for sleep once again.

2 comments:

  1. I can't seem to write late at night. I'm just too tired. The problem is, I work full time and it's hard to find the time to write.

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  2. Sometimes my brain won't stop from work, so I can my thought process to creative writing. Hopefully that will calm me to sleep...except when I get caught up in the writing. Then I'm a zombie the next day at work!

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