With apologies to Brittany Spears: I just had another shoulder replacement. This is the consequence of my competitiveness – competitive swimming, tennis, field hockey, basketball – that lasted long after a normal person would have put some of these activities aside, mainly because I wanted to get better at each sport. But there is a genetic aspect as well. I remember thinking how sad it was that my parents were both crippled with arthritis when they were in their 70s. I never even considered it would be my fate, too. Double whammy. But modern medicine came along just in time to help me out. I’ll be back in the pool in a couple of months and will pick up a tennis racket for the first time in years this summer. Can’t wait.
So how does this relate to my writing? Well, it’s the competitiveness. Not with my fellow writers but with myself this time. I need to write to get better at it. Need to submit my writing for critiques to get better at it. Need to submit pieces for publication to get better at it. Sitting back and hoping your writing will get noticed won’t do it. You need to compete. The publishing world is a morass: lots of writers, too few agents, too few publishing houses and too few editors who decide what the public wants to read. So I’m going to self-publish. Can’t wait. I’m too competitive.
