Too many times, I read posts by people here about how they can (or have to) work on multiple projects, when a scan of their sig lines shows they've completed nothing. This thread is an in-my-face challenge of the "completing" ability of our fellow AWers. Here are the rules. Post here when you complete a long project (novels, screenplays, non-fiction projects of significant length, etc.). First drafts are okay. If it is a short story, a short non-fiction project, any flash-type writing, poem, essay, or anything of short length, post here when you submit it somewhere. This will be a testament to the self-discipline of AWers.
...
Show me that AW is full of self-disciplined writers, not a bunch of posers.
Fizzy, thanks for the prod...I need that at times, to be sure. But to offer another (poet's) perspective, I'll offer this, too, as it directly relates to why I've been comparatively less productive since August:
When I Consider How My Light Is Spent
by John Milton
When I consider how my light is spent,
Ere half my days in this dark world and wide,
And that one talent which is death to hide
Lodged with me useless, though my soul more bent
To serve therewith my Maker, and present
My true account, lest He returning chide;
"Doth God exact day-labor, light denied?"
I fondly ask. But Patience, to prevent
That murmur, soon replies, "God doth not need
Either man's work or His own gifts. Who best
Bear His mild yoke, they serve Him best. His state
Is kingly: thousands at His bidding speed,
And post o'er land and ocean without rest;
They also serve who only stand and wait."
Sometimes what might look like time-frittering IS (especially with ADD types like me
)...but sometimes, too, it's related to writerly cogitation and contemplation. I've been mulling over the fact this year that the only two books I've ever been inspired to write will never find a traditional publishing home (one is a poetry devotional, the other a women's Bible study), and while I've continued to submit and publish individual pieces in magazines, that slowed down a bit in that I haven't had a sense of what new larger goal to pursue. Until yesterday. It was an 'aha' moment, the kind where you think, 'of course, how could I have been so slow to get it!' Totally wonderful, and worth the wait!
Now I probably will continue to keep my sig line the way it is, but if you guys notice my
poetry or
magazine library entries stalling out, by all means drag out that cattle prod. But rest assured, too, that I'm working towards a goal in between all these AW posts, because apart from the fun here, I agree it's important to 'consider how my light is spent.'