Thursday, September 30, 2010

And if you wanna hear God laugh, tell Him your plans

So, unless I'm buried by an avalanche of registration forms over the next couple of days, the writing class is off. Apparently I managed to find the wrong combination of class format and timing, or maybe there just wasn't as much interest as I thought in the middle school. I'm a little disappointed, but not crushed. I'm glad I at least made the attempt, because if I hadn't I'd always wonder and feel a little guilty for not making the effort. Now I know, and I can move on. Failure is God's way of saying, "Nice try, I appreciate the effort, but that's not exactly what I had in mind for you."

I am also taking a hiatus from writing. I'm not sure yet if I'm just burned out and need a long rest or if I have also reached the "Nice try, I appreciate the effort, but this is not exactly what I had in mind for you" point with writing. "The effort" in this case netted me 15 published stories, and I can definitely live with that. Maybe I just need to stop thinking in dollar signs and listen to that little voice that keeps telling me I'm a short story writer, not a novelist. I quit writing for a couple of years previously, and that hiatus also came about after I pushed myself to write novel-length instead of short. I do not yet have enough mental or emotional distance to think about that objectively, however, so I will go back to just saying "I'm on hiatus."

Fear not, I have plenty of (long-neglected) household projects to occupy my time!

2 comments:

Rigs said...

Looks like you’re at a bit of a crossroads, eh? The only thing I can say is, I love short stories, and would be very happy if you wrote them, even to the exclusion of novels. It’s a unique talent, well worth nurturing-- or at least keeping in reserve. :)

(Did I tell you I got The Four Horsemen anthology? I did! And I loved your story-- the pacing was spot on and it ended exactly how it should have.)

Lori Erickson said...

Aw, thanks Rigs! I'm glad you enjoyed it.

Short is my first love, flash fic even more so. I doubt I will ever give those up entirely--once I've let my brain decompress I'll probably rediscover my love for them.

But an outside vote of confidence is always nice. Thanks. :)