Getting Work "Out There"

As part of my ongoing effort to evaluate 2017 and plan for 2018, I'm meeting with folks to kick around some frustrations and ways to address them.

By the way, it's really fun to do this kind of thing with word-people you trust. Maybe trusted artists in other disciplines, too. For example, we spontaneously invented a series of metaphors around snowfall to describe various stages of the creative process. Fun times.

One of our discussion topics was how to distinguish between what is and isn't within our control, especially relating to having work published. In our control: researching and submitting. Not in our control: whether it's accepted. I've written about this before, many times, because it's basically rejection, one of my preoccupations.

Also as part of the evaluation process, I'm reminding myself to be grateful to those who administer contests and keep publications afloat. Next week, I'll give specific shoutouts.

Meanwhile, gratitude is one of the best ways to ensure that the last days of this year include a modicum of peace--peace, a moment of which is necessary before continuing to fight those good and worthy and necessary fights.