Balancing Acts

So, I've returned from the other side of my life. What? You didn't notice that I was gone? Of course, you didn't, you have another life, too. Sometimes our writing lives and our real lives clash and one has to take precedence over the other because life is a balance -- a ying for every yang, so to speak.

This was brought home to me in a very real way this year. My father passed away in August and December brought me a new grandson. Balance, life and death, the old passing the torch to the new. And life carries on.

Writing is a balance, its work but it's also joy. Stories come pouring out of our keyboards combining moments of humour with the darkest of crimes, or spilling a bit of romance into a thriller, tossing in whatever provides balance to make a story unique.

Last year, I submitted stories everywhere as soon as they were written, not caring where I was published, so long as I was published. This year, I took my time, let the stories simmer in their file folders, dragged them back out and rewrote them until they gleamed. While I still tend to be over-eager sending out my stories, I learned to be a little pickier in selecting markets this year. And the greatest joy in doing this was finding my stories published in zines I'd only dreamed about before.

Last year, all I wrote was flash fiction. This year, I've learned to let a story go where it chooses, adding in more character and setting and emotions. This year I spent over a month on one story, every day cutting and adding and polishing until I had a 4500 word story that is out on submission right now. And I loved writing this story. It's, perhaps, one of the best stories I've ever written. Again, balance. Learning to stretch from the known into the unknown, letting go of the old to embrace the new.

Last year, writing a blog was just a dim thought, something I might do in the future. This year, My Little Corner was born, and I can't imagine not doing it. I've found this a wonderful place to share my thoughts on writing, markets, and stories and books I've read. A diary of my writing life, but also a diary for those writers who share their writing life with me.

And so, I'm learning to find a balance in my writing life, learning when to let go and when to hold fast, learning new writing tools, then using them in my stories, and last, but most important, learning how to share what I've learned, then listening and learning from those who share with me. Life is a balancing act, my friends, and may you always find that yang for every ying that touches your life.

And a quote today from Isacc Bashevis Singer
"The waste basket is the writer's best friend."