I thought, after blogging yesterday and making an attempt to be grateful, that I would feel better. At least a little bit.
Not so. Guess I'll just have to keep it up. Which was the plan anyway.
Today I am grateful for Moe's Southwest Grill. Fresh ingredients, college kids behind the counter and in the booths, my kind of music overhead. Thanks, Moe's.
I am also thankful for Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way. Ten years ago, I bought the book and began her program. I didn't finish it, but I did churn out copious pages of a memoir-ish novel that I then lost to a failed hard drive. I had not 'backed up', nor had I saved my file, other than on the computer itself. I am grateful that I learned that lesson.
I'm also grateful that a savvy techy dude managed to save some of the manuscript, though it was garbled and very incomplete. The salvaged hard copy has a spot in my file cabinet in case I ever have the heart to reconstruct it.
Back to Julia and The Artist's Way. Last night I stumbled across the book in my collection and snatched it out of the case.
"Ah," I thought. "Maybe Julia can save me. And, if not, at least I'll get some writing done."
So, last night I began the twelve-week program. For those not familiar, this involves daily morning pages, stream of consciousness, sans censorship.
Lastly, today I am thankful that, in spite of the fact that I feel like a raw, throbby, exposed nerve, this is temporary and will pass.
In the meantime, I'm hanging in there. I promise.
Happy Tuesday, Olivia J. Herrell
P.S. For my writer friends, Julia originally self-published. This is from Wikipedia:
"The book was originally titled, Healing the Artist Within, and was turned down by the William Morris literary agency, before being self-published. After the book began to sell widely, the title was then changed, when the book was published by Jeremy Tarcher (now The Penguin Group) in 1992. The book went on to reach the Top 10 best seller list and onto the list of the Top 100 Best Self-Help Books of All Time. The book was eventually put into the "Self-Publishing Hall of Fame" after selling millions of copies worldwide.
Not so. Guess I'll just have to keep it up. Which was the plan anyway.
Today I am grateful for Moe's Southwest Grill. Fresh ingredients, college kids behind the counter and in the booths, my kind of music overhead. Thanks, Moe's.
I'm also grateful that a savvy techy dude managed to save some of the manuscript, though it was garbled and very incomplete. The salvaged hard copy has a spot in my file cabinet in case I ever have the heart to reconstruct it.
Back to Julia and The Artist's Way. Last night I stumbled across the book in my collection and snatched it out of the case.
"Ah," I thought. "Maybe Julia can save me. And, if not, at least I'll get some writing done."
So, last night I began the twelve-week program. For those not familiar, this involves daily morning pages, stream of consciousness, sans censorship.
Lastly, today I am thankful that, in spite of the fact that I feel like a raw, throbby, exposed nerve, this is temporary and will pass.
In the meantime, I'm hanging in there. I promise.
Happy Tuesday, Olivia J. Herrell
P.S. For my writer friends, Julia originally self-published. This is from Wikipedia:
"The book was originally titled, Healing the Artist Within, and was turned down by the William Morris literary agency, before being self-published. After the book began to sell widely, the title was then changed, when the book was published by Jeremy Tarcher (now The Penguin Group) in 1992. The book went on to reach the Top 10 best seller list and onto the list of the Top 100 Best Self-Help Books of All Time. The book was eventually put into the "Self-Publishing Hall of Fame" after selling millions of copies worldwide.
4 comments:
Mu thoughts are with you and I hope you can find much to be grateful for.
I find losing a sentence a crisis, when I lost several pages I was unbearable for days.
...I'm contemplating what my reaction would be to realizing that I've lost a project due to a faulty hard drive...and for some reason, every scenario involves the police, and on occasion, a straight jacket ;)
You are stronger than I, my dear, stronger than I.
El
Elaine, thank you. That means a lot. Yes, I was quite the basket case. For way longer than days, too.
El, I can assure you that there was nothing calm or strong about me. I was devastated. So much so that I didn't write again for several years. And never did have the heart to tackle that novel again. Now it's ten years later and I'm really just now back to writing. So yeah. Not strong at all. But thanks for the vote of confidence. :)
~ Olivia
I love Julia's story. There is hope for us still.
I didn't like your computer story. I mean it was well told, but it may give me nightmares. I've been careful to try to save my work regularly, but I still fear having it disappear.
Actually that Cameron book sounds familiar. I wonder if I have it somewhere. I'm not going to look, but now I'll have to be aware in case I find it.
Lee
Best selling author Lani Diane Rich visits
Tossing It Out
Wednesday November 16th.
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