Weekly writing update By Catherine on 9/12/2007 10:46:00 AM
So, for the first time in forever, I'm feeling pretty prolific. I've got two short-stories, several poems, and of course the novel-- all a work in progress, but the point is, I'm actually making progress, which is the most important part. I'm lucky to have two fantastic poets to help me critique and improve; I'm probably annoying them with the deluge of insecure half-poems I keep sending out. Plus there's the imminent possibility that Solvo will finally get something concrete completed, so I can start with the marketingTalking with Amanda on gchat the other day, we both agreed that there's really too much pressure to publish. Please don't take it as sour grapes, because for those writers who are in a place where publishing is a possibility, that's fantastic. I understand the desire, because I want to publish too, but I don't want to publish what's not of a caliber I think is good enough. I'd rather wait ten years and work my fingers to the callused bone, writing and rewriting and scrapping every other poem than to publish too early and gain a reputation as mediocre before I've come to understand my own style enough to make it say what I want.
So, I'll sit here in my classroom, typing in my blog instead of eating lunch, and working on poems that aren't so mediocre. I can only hope the NYT Book Review might be kinder to my modest tome than to Nabokov on his first attempt. But then, it's not very modest to put oneself in his category, so scratch that, too.
Labels: publishing, writing