A New Publication For Me--And Another Writing Analogy.

Today's Coronavirus Walk

I have done snowshoeing/book writing analogies here. I have done a taekwondo/writing analogy. I have done a biking/time management analogy. Now I am going to do a walking/writing analogy.

Sloooow

Given that my husband and I have been biking somewhere around 20 years, you'd think we'd be a whole lot faster than we are. Given how long I've been walking, in one form or another, you'd think I'd be faster than I am.

I accept that we are, and, particularly, I am, slow. You just cannot have as many people pass you as I've had pass me and not accept reality. It doesn't matter whether I am on a bike or on foot, it doesn't matter how old or young the people behind me are, I am going to be passed.

Today's Overlook

But, you know, you're out there on the trail to be out there on the trail. So I have accepted that I am never going to win any awards for my speed. I just want to be out on the trail.

Biking And Walking Are Not The Only Things I Do Slowly

I have also had to accept that I am a slow writer. I'm even slower with getting published. A case in point? My adult short story, When I Have Fears That We May Cease To Be. was published yesterday at The Blue Nib Literary Magazine website.

I wrote this short story a while ago. A long while ago. I won't mention any dates, but I've been submitting--and revising--this story so long that there are copies of it in my filing cabinet that are clearly typed on a typewriter, not a word processor.

We're Not Just Talking Perseverance Here

I could say that this is an inspirational story about perseverance, that I kept the faith and kept submitting and that is why this short story was published. But I think there's something else going on when writing is published after a long period of time has passed. And what is going on is...time.

It's very possible that a piece of fiction needs to wait for publication until a pair of eyes falls upon it that gets it, that understands what the writer is doing. My first novel, for instance, was accepted for publication by an editor who was about fifteen years younger than I was. I was submitting work while she was, literally, still growing up. I had to wait for the right time for us to connect.

It's also possible that a piece of fiction doesn't fit in with the time it was written. It fits in with another time that's still coming up. I have no examples of that. I don't know if that's what happened with When I Have Fears That We May Cease To Be. But it's a big part of the reason that I keep submitting completed and rejected work. The time may not have been right for it when it was written, but it could be right now. Or next month. Or next year.

You Just Want To Be Out On The Trail

Today's Lunch View

Writers can't let the whole it-hasn't-been-published thing become a big issue for them. Writing is like walking or biking. You just have to want to write the way you want to be out on the trail.