Bright sparks during an otherwise awful week

Sometimes in the midst of all the dross, some good things do happen. I’m going to be blunt. I had a really terrible time of last week. It was a combination of the pre-production stress my husband’s film production company is going through (I’m talking near-endless meetings almost every night of the week) and also a lot of car trouble.

I find it easier to get by if my home life is running smoothly but last week it didn’t, and it had a horrid knock-on effect on my overall mindset. Coupled with this was the nagging sense that nothing good was happening for my writing career.

Most of us who are published can attest to the fact that things seem to occur in fits and starts. We can go for weeks without any feedback then suddenly get a stunning review or be contacted by someone who’d like to feature our book on their blog. Or, it can go totally the opposite, with a spate of rejections followed by one or two bad reviews. This happens. It’s a see-saw existence and we have to take the highs with the lows.

But I've had two good things happen this past week...

A chance conversation with one of my editors at the newspapers about the pitfalls of self-publishing electronically resulted in her commissioning an article, which was published in The Star before being archived on our website: http://www.iol.co.za/tonight/books/bringing-new-writers-to-book-1.1035338

Then, an added bit of happiness came when one of my reviews also went to print in The Star: http://www.iol.co.za/tonight/books/bullet-1.1035348

I guess life isn’t all bad and, even if it is, it’s important that we, as writers, need to carry on working, blogging, writing, revising and reading. We have to understand that life rarely if ever goes smoothly, and that whatever gets thrown our way, no matter how horrid, merely prepares us for the next wave of stress. And, you know what? The next time something ugly rears its head, we’re better prepared for dealing with it.

And there will always be a few bright sparks along the way.

Oh, and you can always "like" me on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Nerine-Dorman-author/173330419365374?v=wall

Every little bit counts.