Juggling

Sometimes I think writing is more about juggling and less about putting actual words to paper. Oh sure, you've still got to be willing and able to do that, the whole building-one-sentence-after-another thing, but there are other, less widely-publicized, aspects of the whole writing gig that are just as important. The other balls, if you will. And you know how it is with juggling. All the balls have to stay in the air at one time. At. One. Time.

What balls, you ask? Loads--just loads. Deadlines. Galleys. Synopsises. Rewrites. Promotion. Marketing. Websites. Edits. Erratas. More edits. Cover art. Had enough? Arms tangled up yet? Ah, I thought so. And remember, those are just some of the balls a writer juggles.

This morning I'm just going to mention one ball. The teal ball. No, I promise you, that ball is not blue. Not. Is not. Hell, it's my blog and I say it's teal so it's teal, okay? Good.

Well, the ball I've been working on in the wee hours of this morning, the teal ball, is edits.

Last week I submitted a story to one of my editors at The Wild Rose Press for consideration. The story is called Promises. It's a short story about love set after one of the bloody battles of the Civil War. Despite the sadness, it's a sweet story and I was tickled to receive a contract for it. And the edits. I could moan and groan about the whole editing ball this morning but I'm not going to. Edits on this piece were a walk in the park. The juggling was fun and easy and the manuscript is already zooming through cyberspace, on its way back to my editor. The whole process took less than an hour to complete and I'm sitting here smiling, glad to put aside one ball and ready to pick up another.

Hmm? What was that? Oh, what is the next ball going to be that I'll have to get in the air? Hmm? And blogging? A ball? Of course blogging's a ball! What color, you ask? Hmm...that'll have to be a topic for another time.

Until next time, have a great day. And do try to keep all your balls in the air, won't you?