On "not" Writing

At some point this summer--after I finished the spring semester and before I began teaching the summer class--I stopped working on my current novel.  I guess "delayed" is a better term.  I always feel guilty and grumpy (the "two G's," as in Mom has "the two G's") when I don't/can't carve the time to write a few pages.

I've consoled myself by considering other kinds of writing (blogging, commenting, letter-writing, check-writing, password-typing, etc) as useful and necessary.  But I do need to learn to balance my novel-writing time not only with family time, but also with non-novel writing time.

This whole marketing pre-publication business made me very uncomfortable this past week.  "What?! Ask my friends and family to actually buy my novel? Egads."  (It's what several marketing books and author sites say is non-negotiable.  It makes me feel "eek.")

But I've crafted a note, with as much humor as possible, to my F&F (friends and family).  Half the letters are sent.  I have to get over feeling weird about it, I guess, and hope no one thinks our friendship is based on their expressing any interest in my work. Just wanted to document this tottering step in the publishing process. 

"What Form Rejection Means to Me"

The Rejectionist wants to hear what we writers think of Form Rejection letters...


What Form Rejection means to me,
This is my theme for English B.

I used to keep form rejections in a binder.
Three-hole-punched them
As a reminder
That someday I'd get published
and use "Dear Author,
Thank you for your recent submission,
but" for toilet seat covers.


I did get published, and now
I don't have the heart
to soil them. They remind me
that rejection (after rejection)
can be followed by something
miraculous
and sweet.