Sadly, I don’t have any new work to post at the moment. I still haven’t written more in Helen since my last post, I’m only halfway through my latest short story, and everything else that is fit to see the e-sunlight will not be posted on this blog unless it’s rejected everywhere I submit it. With these unfortunate circumstances in mind, I’m afraid I’ll have to settle for posting writing-related personal news. Such a disappointment… or is it? I hope not.

As I was reconnecting with sites to which I had planned to submit writing, but had let fall to the wayside while I attempted to figure out life in Boston, I realized that it’s been a long while since I submitted anything. Luckily, I have now submitted one story to multiple literary sources, and I have plans for continuing submissions. Could this be it? Could this be the true beginning of my self-marketing endeavors? I have submitted writing before, but in a few-and-far-between manner. Never simultaneous submissions before, and never so close together even for different pieces. I’m excited about it. Even if these particular publications don’t opt to include my story in their collections, if I continue this way, something is bound to be published somewhere.

I have to admit that I have never felt so much like I have written stories that are truly good enough to submit to publishers, literary magazines, and/or contests. When I look back at a story I submitted to a contest 4 or more years ago, I shake my head at my naivety in thinking that it had a chance at winning. The writing was good, but the story was grossly incomplete. Now, I read the bios of the authors of pieces in online magazines and grimace to see all their publishing credits. It does make it seem as if you can’t get published until you’ve already been published – but that is just not true – there’s no way it can be true – and I refuse to believe it, or let it stop me.

I finally finished reading The Tale of Murasaki a week or two ago. It was a very good book, and I’ll leave it at that for now. I’ve just started reading Life of Pi, and although I know I’m late to the party (and I’ve only read about ten pages so far), I’m looking forward to finding out why everyone likes it so much. I’m considering writing a review of it when I’m done, just so I can pretend that I can actually spend time doing the things I really like to do. (e.g. Write critically about literature.)

My most recent peeve: I really, really need a workspace. I don’t have a desk, and if I did I would not have a place to put it – there is little enough space in my bedroom without adding more furniture, and no room anywhere else in the house. I could set up in the living room, where there’s an enormous table, but that table is usually covered in things and there is too much to distract me in the living room, like the television and the new feline addition to the house (she’s tiny and might have kitty ADHD). There are a few cafe/restaurants that have wifi and would possibly offer something like desk space, but as I am still very much unemployed, I cannot afford to use Panera as my office. What little money I have left would disappear in no time if I did. Now, it’s not that I absolutely can’t get work done while in a half-sitting, half lying-down position in bed with my laptop resting on my thighs – on the contrary, I’ve proven that I can. However, I would be many times more comfortable and productive with a work area, desk included, that I could depend on. If I had money, I would even consider renting office space. That, of course, would require a much more reliable income than what I’m likely to make outside of a full time job, where I would most likely have an office anyway.

Thanks for reading my ramblings. I suspect that, if you’re anything like me, you would rather read the creative pieces than blog posts about the writer. But then again, we live in a society that tends to be very interested in other people’s personal lives, so who knows. As you’ve born with this post, I will try very hard to have some creative work worth reading ready to post by the end of this week.