Have you Been Writing? It’s Complicated
Avoiding an oft-asked question and figuring out the real answer
Although 2020 has kept me away from loved ones more than usual, as a self-proclaimed writer, I still get the same question no matter how long it has been when I see one of my fans.
“Have you been writing?”
These “fans” are, of course, my elderly relatives who don’t follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or read my blog. If they did, they’d know probably more than they want.
When they ask me this question, they really mean, do you have anything I can read? And the truth is, I don’t. It’s been a while since I’ve had anything published. When I do, I send them a copy and they force all my other relatives to read it.
Just because I haven’t sent them anything recently doesn’t mean I’m not writing. It’s just that writing is more than writing.
Remember the Good Old Days?
For a while, I was on a bit of a hot streak in my fan’s eyes. I was submitting my essays to anthologies, and they were getting printed. That little streak happened after years and years of submitting the same essay, rewriting it, and submitting it to another anthology. Finally, it was accepted. Then, magically, others followed after I developed a relationship with an editor who…
