At the grindstone
Posted on May 13, 2010
So here’s the part where I apologize for waiting until Thursday to update. My original plan was to post some lovely pictures of the He Stepped Through and Darkness on the Edge copies I received last weekend. Obviously, I didn’t do that.
I was at the grindstone.
All week, I’ve been preparing for a rewrite. It’s not just any rewrite, at least it doesn’t feel that way. This one feels important, and I’m determined to not go off half-cocked. This one gets all the attention it deserves. Now, I’ve been working on this bastard (this bastard being an outline and character descriptions) for a week, I have a notebook half-full of scribbles.
This is all part of working toward The Big Goal. Over the years, I’ve achieved lots of my other goals. My first short story sale, my first pro-rate sale, my first anthology sale, the publication of my first novella and short story collection. Later this year, I’m supposed to meet another goal when my first novel is published. None of those are The Big Goal, though.
So what is?
Simple. The Big Goal is to improve, to be the best writer I can be. It’s unreachable, because I hope I’ll always be getting better. The short stories I’ve written in the past year make half the prose in Broken Skin look like the ravings of a drunken spastic. Part of The Big Goal is to make sure next year’s stories are even better.
So I stay at the grindstone, scribbling like mad, building momentum. It’s like those first seconds of a funny car race, all smoke and squealing and smoking tires. Soon, everything’s gonna catch, and then I’m off, flying straight for the finish line.
Until then, however, I keep spinning. Keep working the grindstone. There’s a goal out there, and it keeps moving.
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Great attitude. I think the same way, about writing, parenting, weightlifting, everything that’s important to me really.
This goal wouldn’t have anything to do with a boot camp woudl it?