Roads to Joy

You never really know what’s ahead, but it’s got to be better to be looking forward than to be becalmed with nothing to be stimulated by. I’ve felt too becalmed these last few days, but today I’ll be listening in on a new Writers Group. Got my assignment ready, looked over the submissions from four other writers, and I’m eager to rock and roll.

Sometimes it’s felt like I’m adrift between the effort of perseverance and some possible future realisation of feedback, waiting, waiting, waiting. And I just feel stymied, unable to progress. That’s frustration, and I know I should be more professional about my diligence; I should get my head down, continue working on the next project. But without some sort of resolution to the project that’s ‘completed,’ it feels impossible to move forward. So I’m hanging on the fence between the proverbial devil and the deep blue sea.

I will be able to look forward, soon. I’m sure of that. And I even have some new strategies in development: I’ve discovered a programme of dedicated science fiction Writers Groups (so-called Orbiters) for novelists no less, at the British Science Fiction Association, which I have rather belatedly joined (perhaps 300+k words too late!). Although I’ve sent off an enquiry to the BSFA’s Review quarterly, pitching my last novel for a possible review, it’s possible that I’ll not be successful there. I’m holding my breath to see if any of the predicted handful of readers at HiddenGemsBooks.com will themselves be forthcoming with some comments for my offerings on the Amazon platform. If the uptake is minimal, or less than salubrious on the review side, then I’ll have to see if I can find some critical support with an Orbiter group in assessing my ideas and their presentation. So it’s good to have a plan; it’s so hard to be aimless, not knowing where to turn next on this writing odyssey.

Still, it’s taken several days of increasing frustration to reach this point. But meanwhile, there’s some new friends to be meeting, via Zoom this afternoon, as we look at each other’s poetic efforts, based on a stimulus, Parable of Flight, by the American Louise Gluck, recent Nobel Laureate (2020) for Literature. It should be an energising session, and I’m very much looking forward to it.

Enough of this moping around with nothing to do or think about! There’s joy ahead, has been some joy already in creating a response to the task. And I am shaking myself, dusting myself off, and getting ready to create again.