Checking In
Hello again!
It's November 1st and, as promised, I'm back with a new newsletter for you.
I had high hopes for my time off from writing this newsletter and, honestly, I got a lot done in the last two and a half weeks.
I had my final session with my therapist and my first dentist appointment since the start of the pandemic. E and I helped some friends move and went to a second-hand bike market where we bought me a new (used) bike. We also got new library cards and I applied to transfer my US driver's license into a German one. I took a walk with a writer friend who I hadn't seen since the start of the pandemic and I reconnected with some women from my church who I hadn't seen since June. I spent this past weekend dogsitting and visited a bookstore I'd been meaning to check out for months.
Lots of fun and valuable things happened in the last couple of weeks!
But writing wasn't really one of those things.
I did work on the blog post that I mentioned being excited to write. It was about my accidental layover in Reykjavik, but then it morphed into a piece about the pandemic that I was much less excited to write. My hour-long morning writing ritual became a half-hour slog that I forced myself to do some days and skipped other days. I managed to finish the pandemic blog post last Monday, but I haven't published it yet because I'd like to finish the Reykjavik piece as well and share them in quick succession. Unfortunately though, writing that pandemic post took the wind out of my sails a bit, and made me less excited to write about travel, in general.
I really hoped that today's newsletter would include a link (or two or even three!) to the awesome blog posts I wrote while I took a break from writing On / Off, but... nope.
Although I didn't get as much actual writing done as I wanted to, I did get some writing-related things done. I applied for a writing gig with a feminist blog (that I didn't get), I pitched an essay to an editor (who I haven't heard back from yet), and I submitted that personal essay I mentioned last newsletter to another literary journal.
I told the women from my church about that personal essay and a couple of them asked to read it and gave me some really nice feedback. One woman wrote: "What a beautiful essay, Emma. It reads like butter. I even chuckled a few times at the beginning. Surely you’ll find a publisher. [two hearts emoji] [pray emoji]" (Church ladies, am I right?) The other wrote: "I love it!!!! It’s so good!!!! That sounds shallow in a uniquely American way but I promise it’s not."
Literary journals have really long turnaround times, so I won't receive rejections (or, dare I hope for acceptances?!) for months, but it feels good to be putting my stuff out there. And, honestly, 3 submissions/pitches/applications in two and a half weeks is a really good ratio for me. I'm usually lucky if I put myself out there once a month. So, this is progress. Even if none of these applications go anywhere, I'm trying.
With that in mind, On / Off isn't cycling back 'on' just yet. This week I want to keep putting my energy toward trying. I want to write, certainly, but I also want to keep doing this writing-adjacent work of submitting and pitching. And then, next week, I'm going to take a break from all of it while E and I host our friend, RJ. They're coming to visit us for ten days starting on Friday and, while they're here, I'll be prioritizing time with them as much as possible.
On November 16th, the day after RJ leaves, I'll plan to send out On / Off issue #32. Maybe it will be the start of a new 'on' cycle, but I make no promises.
In the meantime, I may not have any blog posts of my own to link you to, but I do have an article by someone else that I want to share. It's a piece I found while looking for places to pitch and wow did it resonate with me. Remember my Spicy Hot Taskmaster Take newsletters (Part 1, Part 2)? This article explores what I was trying to say with way more nuance and insight. It speaks to the relationship dynamic that I was picking up on, but could not put into words. It is the article that I wish I had written.
Thank You Daddy: The Psychosexual Intimacy of Taskmaster
I know it won't be everyone's cup of tea, but reading it delighted me.