Possibilities 7

There is such excitement and hope in the moments of possibility.  You put a manuscript in the mail and the possibility that it will get published fuels you over the weeks and months until you hear for certain.  You do not allow yourself to entertain the probability that the publisher will pass on your manuscript, your words, you soul, instead, you stay in the possible.  Nothing succeeds but a try.

The effort is important.  So is the attitude.  You claim yourself as writer.  I write therefore I am a writer.  You can also claim that you are a published writer because your words have  been published more than once, however, when you let the doubts creep in you wonder if it matters how recently the last piece was published.  Do you have to have a piece published in the last year to be considered a published writer?

Claiming your desires and dreams is important.  The high wire artist, Philippe Petit, said in a speech for a Massachusetts Cultural Council conference a few years ago, that when he goes to walk the wire he doesn’t hesitate.  He said that the first step has to be a winning step.  Those words have stuck with me since I heard him utter them – mad, fearless, free-spirited Frenchman that he is.  He says that when he is ready to execute a walk, he has gone through months of preparation and will only walk if he know that the conditions are appropriate.  If it is too windy, he will not attempt to walk because he is not greater than the wind.  But when the conditions are right, he knows he will make it across the wire.  He sees himself getting to the other side.  He didn’t say so but I imagine he enjoys the journey.

The journey of toward a finished piece of writing is exhilarating!  It may start as a word, an image, a bit of music, an annoyance, and imagining of what might happen if…The daily writing journey begins in different ways, but it always ends up with words being linked together, becoming known as they pour or dribble forth.

I know I will be published.  I will garner the resources to self-publish the book of essays.  I will submit the query letters to magazines that I think would publish my work.  I will find a publisher for the children’s stories.

I will.  I will it into being by doing the writing and then doing the selling that has to be done for this dream to come to fruition.

I believe I have something to say that people want to hear and that will resonate with them.

I’ve been hearing from people that they’ve been reading my blog. Thank you for making time to do so. Please leave a comment or two as you like. 
Holler if you hear me, dwelling dreamily in the possible.