Perseverating on perseverance
I'm re-reading an unfinished novel I started writing in college. It's not bad for a kid, actually, and I'm a little bummed that I never finished it back then. I would finish it now, but everybody and their brother has a novel about slipping in between parallel worlds and meeting fairies...and I know damn well I can't top Phillip Pullman. Oh well. The juvenilia file grows and grows. I have much sorting out to do of many things--fiction, poetry, and other less tangible bits of baggage. All things I don't need and no one else needs to have inflicted on them.I am cautiously optimistic about the whole endeavor. I still believe in possibilities... even impossibilities. I'm not dead yet!So, today's theme is PERSEVERANCE. "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result."But..."If at first you don't succeed, try, try again."I've come to the conclusion that one has to strike a balance between "trying" and going with the flow. In life as well as writing. If you show up for the muse, or fate, or whatever you call the subconscious current that puts you in the zone, eventually it'll show up too. And it helps to show up in different places, at different times, wearing different hats, to circumvent that little insanity problem.Right now I'd like to show up for my muse at a seaside caf at twilight, wearing a cloche, but for now I'll have to settle for my desk, late afternoon, with a banana clip.I sure hope she'll show.