Milestones

I don't usually do this, stick my neck out and write about myself in the concrete instead of the abstract, talk about myself without the stylized sheen of fiction that (I hope) makes people sense the remove I intend. There are plenty of people that air the smallest details for everyone to see, but that hasn't been my style, really. But I'm breaking ranks with myself long enough to say:

On Friday, I passed the 100,000 yard mark of swimming for the year. I know there are folks out there who swim that in a month, but I doubt I've ever done even half that amount in a year before. It has been a joy.

Then, on Saturday, sitting in the local coffee shop--where, if they don't know me by name, they know me by drink (pot of Darjeeling, please)--semi-banished from the house while my sweetheart was working out, I wrapped up a year's worth of work revising my last novel. I started tearing it apart at the seams after having a major life realization, quitting my job, and reading Styron's Sofie's Choice. Almost 12 months later, I finished the last chunk with this weird quivering feeling in my chest. It has been a freaking RIDE to learn what I needed to learn in my life in order to write the kind of book I wanted this to be.

I don't talk about my writing because I have not yet promoted myself to a Writer from being a writer. Though I've collected my fair share of rejection letters, I have yet the put forth the effort to achieve the goals in this area of my life I've always claimed to want to achieve. With my tri season ending this Sunday, with the novel revision off my shoulders, a full frontal attack on my short stories and the wild and arbitrary world of literary magazines is called for.

Here's hoping the determination I used to swim those 100,000 will get me to where I want to be outside the water.

Wish me hard work (with a little luck on the side)!


amanda