A Writer's Notebook, Day Four-Hundred-And-Eleven

Now that I am getting back into the swing with my writing, it also brings me to thinking, once more, about the question of publishing and building a career.  At this moment, I am sending out work, but have yet to get any real traction in the larger world.  I am a very good position, as I have so much work already, but that does not alter the fact that I still don't have a recognized name or major professional credentials outside my educational background.  I have, over the past few years, begun building some of these (the reading of my play at Theatre Lab, publishing in soflopojo, my reading), and these are not insignificant accomplishments, but I know that they are only a small start, if I am honest with myself.

I am anxious to get my work in front of readers, and I am hopeful about that as a long term goal, but right now, I am still not seeing that happen.  In many ways, it is outside my power to make it actually happen, but I need to take steps to get there, and I am working on it.  My current goal is to start getting more packet out on a regular basis.  I have a weekly goal of three to four packets, but I am likely going to batch them to send out a bunch at one time this month.  Hopefully, they will land on the desks of editors who appreciate the kind of poetry that I am writing.  

In the end, of course, that is not something I can control.  I am doing the things that I need to, the things that are within my power, and sending more submissions out is one of those things.  More important, of course, is the writing itself.  The fact that I have kept up at this point feels to me, at times, unbelievable.  I've been tested in too many ways, and have somehow continued on.  That itself is something of value, even if it least to nothing more, though I do hope and ultimately believe my work will find a publcation and an audience.

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