Friday Five: four months in

Four months ago, I relaunched this blog in its new incarnation, as a website dedicated to the craft of writing. I had just wrapped up a nearly 33-year career in communications, public relations and marketing with Missouri University of Science and Technology and, while I was certainly ready for a break from the day-to-day rigors of what that career had become, I was not ready to retire from writing. I was instead ready to dive back into writing for the joy of it. I was ready to grab hold of this new chapter of my life.

The past four months have been invigorating.

I’ve been focused on writing fiction, creative non-fiction (or at least essays, if not super creative), and even some poetry. I’ve revisited some previous writings from earlier years, when the job didn’t consume as much of my time and energy as it had in the latter years. I dusted off some that were worth revisiting, stuck the rest back in their folders, and have set aside more time for regular journaling in addition to my creative writing. I’ve submitted some short stories and essays, received my share of rejections (as expected), have had few pieces published, have one re-publication of a previously published bit of flash fiction set for July, and am awaiting word from editors of various literary magazines on the fate of other submissions. Meanwhile, I continue to come up with new ideas for stories, and to write them, and now I’m outlining a novel, the idea for which has been buried longer than the cicadas that are about to emerge this month.

Much of these first four months of my new chapter have felt like a creative and spiritual cleansing and decluttering. I’ve needed to write, write, write to purge my creative pipes of the sludge that had accumulated over the years. As I wrote more, I found myself focused more on observing, noticing, and discovering ideas for stories and poems from everyday occurrences. I started paying more attention to my thoughts, and to the inputs from the world around me that influenced my thinking. No longer harassed by the onslaughts of emails, texts, Slack and Teams messages, and the other communications that bombarded me in the academic-administrative-bureaucratic world, I’ve rediscovered the beauty of deeper, slower thought, reading, and observation.

As I opened my journal to write Thursday morning (May 2), I jotted down some of the things I’ve discovered about writing, the writing community, and myself over these past four months. Here are five of those things:

1. Publishing opportunities abound. The literary world is thriving, especially online, where hundreds of literary magazines await the submissions of eager writers. I began a list of literary magazines on X/Twitter, and as of this writing have compiled a list of over 180 of them. Beyond Twitter, sites like Medium and Substack teem with opportunities for writers to get their work published. Of course, many of these little mags offer no pay, so don’t expect to make much if any money for your efforts. But the beauty of getting published online is the ability to share your work broadly via social media.
2. Great writing is out there. I’ve discovered some great works by tremendously talented writers in my virtual travels through social media and connections with these literary magazines. Some of the best pieces are quick reads — snackable flash fictions or poetry. The best of them stick with you, as good writing does.
3. Twitter (X) is still good for something. After Elon Musk took over Twitter, a lot of people I previously interacted with on that platform fled from it, and for good reason. Still more fled after he renamed it X. Even as the exodus continues, a vibrant an active community of writers hangs on. I’m one of them now. Thanks to Twitter (X), I’ve discovered and connected with many writers I might not have otherwise. I’ve tried to replicate this sort of community on other platforms — mainly Threads, which held promise as a new and improved version of Twitter but really isn’t, and LinkedIn, which has a large community or group focused on writers and writing — but have found those efforts wanting. Despite the Dark Overlord Elon’s ownership of that platform, some good is coming out of it.
4. Writing-focused podcasts are great. For the last five or six years of my career as a higher ed marketer, I took in a lot of podcasts about marketing, organizational behavior, and related topics relevant to my career. Now that that career is over, I’m listening more to podcasts that showcase great writing and writers. Among my favorites are Short Story Today, which I’ve mentioned here before; otherppl; and Selected Shorts. Give any of them a listen. You won’t regret it.
5. I don’t seem to have as much time for writing as I thought I’d have. Since retirement, I am focusing more on creative writing, but it seems I don’t have as much time to devote to it as I thought I would. Retirees who have gone before me warned that I would find ways to stay busy, and I have. A few freelance and consulting opportunities have fallen into my lap, and those projects are taking up some time I thought I could devote to creative writing. I’m to the point now where I want to be careful about saying yes to opportunities, lest these opportunities start to feel like “work.” I need to strike a balance. Even so, over these past four months, I’ve written more creative stuff than I had in the past 20 years or so. So far, it’s been a lot of fun. And that’s the point.

Image by Andreas Lischka from Pixabay.