A N.Y. thing

Been awhile since I updated this, and as usual I have no excuses. It's also been awhile since I wrote consistently, but that's going to be changing soon, as well.

Two weeks until the artist talk at a local high school. I don't know what to expect, and I think that's okay. I believe the point is to use it as a learning experience, gather what information I can and then draw conclusions after the dust clears. I was also told about a writing workshop in the area, where people pay non-trivial amounts of money to sit in on various sessions with professionals in the industry, and pay moderately less money to even pitch to an agent. I'm considering how much such an experience is worth to me, never having had it previously. Sometimes I guess one has to make decisions in the midst of the sandstorm.

Navigating these things has been confusing and strange. So far as I can tell, there are a variety of doors a person can use for an in. "It isn't what you know, but who you know." This most visible methodology works out for a lot of individuals who find themselves connected to or connecting with the right person. It's a normal emotion, not to trust someone who isn't known, because ultimately it's all about investments, which is to say gambling. Agents, companies, entities wield a certain amount of influence and resources, and their goals are to further their agendas, most usually revolving around making more money. Taking in a book that will sell is a good thing, but who knows the future? The fallback of trust is convenient and safe and typical. Without that, it falls on the author to figure out some other way to impress the editors responsible for accepting material. I've personally also heard of authors working at publishers first, and working their way into that trust. I've also heard of authors spending decades submitting until their work finds the right person behind the right desk.

So in terms of networking and tenacity, respectively, I think I continue to fail. But there are those resolutions. I didn't so much say them as feel them, and I know what I have to do to fulfill them. I may not end up shelling out money I don't necessarily have for the workshop, but the other resources I've come across, I will use. I am always of the mind that if a writer is not writing, they are not working. Maybe that was true 30 years ago. Now, it seems like part of the job is the meeting and greeting. I'm sure there are also other aspects I'm missing, other things that went into the careers of writers I see who are further along than me. And of course everyone's recipe for success is going to be a little different.

So, on the horizon are the children's book concept I've failed at for 2 years, the next short story, which I'm pretty excited about, and this networking thing. I call it a thing because I still don't know what to make of it. However, I can say that I have more people in my life now who continuously ask me how it's going, and that feels really nice. Like a forgetful person is, I am increasingly more amazed at the number of things I allow to fall by the wayside. Picking them up later, "what is this doing on the floor?" Though, I am keenly aware that if I allow myself to fail, I will always remember how I didn't try hard enough.

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