Magpie

I apologize for yesterday’s oddness. I’ve been meaning to adjust the schedule of my blogging. Not on this end, mind you: posts will still publish as near to noon as possible. I figure folks on lunch break might want something interesting to read other than the news.

It’s totally a creation-oriented thing. Rather than scrambling for topics at the last minute, which occasionally leads to things like surly Mexican supercops scowling at you, I need to make it a point to jot post ideas down when I have them and write said posts in advance. Tomorrow, for example, will see the return of Into the Nentir Vale, and while I have the funny quotes from my players, making sure the narrative flows in line with the events of the last two sessions would take up most of my lunch hour.

Still, it falls back to making sure I use the free time I have wisely. This includes time on the train, naturally, as well as walks to and from the station. It can be difficult to predict when an idea for a post might hit me, and if I don’t document them they might slip through my fingers the next time a shinier idea passes me by. I’m a bit like a magpie, in that way, which is something I’ve mentioned before.

Creating new habits to replace bad or broken ones can be one of the biggest obstacles a person has to face. It means change. It represents stepping away from the familiar, the comfortable. The edge can be a scary place, and not everybody likes to hang out there. We need to remind ourselves, however, that with risk comes reward.

I’m dangling myself over the edge already, at least a little. Queries are going out. I know most will be met with rejection. But that’s a fact of the writer’s life. It’s not the rejection itself that matters – it’s how we deal with it.