It's Still Just a Marathon

Life, writing, careers... all are marathons, not sprints. Some days, you just have to be reminded of it. 

I've grabbed NaNoWriMo by the horns this year, and I'm not letting go. I'm on my game. I'm still in the running to win by the end of the month. As of right now, this is what my stats look like:

Don't worry: I plan to meet my daily goal by the end of the night. I don't know what this strange feeling I have is, but I think it my be a little bit of pride. I'm actually going to do it. Let's be honest though--the novel is total crap, but it is nothing that can't be fixed with months of toiling over every word choice.

And about my Vine project... yeah, that stopped. I really wanted to get a post for every day of the month, but it was becoming much more of a distraction then I meant it to be. Instead of working on my novel, I found myself banging my head against my desk trying to come up with a more compelling 6-second video. Next year if I chronicle my progress, it will need to be a full-on video blog so that I can just ramble, upload it and be done.

The real roller coaster in the last week has been on the job scene. A little over a week ago I was invited to join a writing team that could actually put me back in the category of earning a normal wage. So I did everything I was asked: I attended a webinar, I requested to be added to the team and I waited patiently to get started. Turns out, through whatever reason I have yet to understand, I was actually denied from working with this specific team/client two years ago--without writing a single word for them. Through this particular company, sometimes you'll get a client who doesn't like your writing voice or some other (usually arbitrary) reason, they'll keep you from writing for them again.

I normally take this all in stride, but this situation is ridiculous. They promised me work that would let me, you know, actually pay my bills. But they didn't realize they made me lose an hour of my time to attend a webinar for work I would never have access to. Yes, it could be just a simple mistake, but I'm not going to beg for work. I have a little bit of dignity left.

The good, the bad--it all means nothing. I just have to keep going, keep trying. There's a lot that's trying to stop me, and I'm not going to put up with it anymore. My time is now. I'll get to the place I need to be. Very soon the opportunity I need will come. Until then I'll be here, writing away.