When our little “Shirley” passed on – an orange coloured goldfish, we were saddened, but most upset at the thought of “Laverne” – spending that time swimming around under her little floaty body. That’s why we now have 3 fish – so if one dies the other two can keep each other company while they grieve, and so there’ll always be a witness.*
Anyway, I’m trying the same approach at the moment with writing competitions, using failure notification or lack of winning notification as a kick to force me up and out to try again. The aim is to have 2 or 3 things on the go at any one time, so that if I lose one there’s still more to hope for, and the lost one acting as a spur forward might actually be kind of exciting, or not...
* We think shirley couldn’t work out how to use the holiday food, but I must admit to a very slight quiver of suspicion at how quickly “Laverne” seemed to get over it, how much she seemed to enjoy the extra space in the tank.
Anyway, I’m trying the same approach at the moment with writing competitions, using failure notification or lack of winning notification as a kick to force me up and out to try again. The aim is to have 2 or 3 things on the go at any one time, so that if I lose one there’s still more to hope for, and the lost one acting as a spur forward might actually be kind of exciting, or not...
* We think shirley couldn’t work out how to use the holiday food, but I must admit to a very slight quiver of suspicion at how quickly “Laverne” seemed to get over it, how much she seemed to enjoy the extra space in the tank.
5 comments:
That's spooky man- I've been thinking about L and S a lot lately,the tv prog not your fish,and about Milwauke and Harley Davidson and schlitz or schotz as it was in L and S,And I was asking mrs EEjit if she remebered L and S but she didn't and I even read bits of their scripts on d'internet and I haven't thought of them in years and now here they are as fish, one dead one alive. Are the progs on any satelite/ cable tv anywhere or hapoy days? I really should get more sleep.
I used to go in for submitting my stuff intensively to magazines and competitions and I think the "three things on the go" approach is absolutely right. Most importantly, I found, it pushed me to work harder.
TFE - I really don't know much about the show - we had come up with the name for Laverne first, and I just knew Shirley fitted with it, didn't know why.
Dominic - the working harder is the bit I'm (partly) afraid of! But hopefully it'll mean am less likely to be all upset when rejections arrive. The danger too is that already I'm searching for things where the winner won't be decided for ages. It's only myself I'm fooling...
I tried that this year. I followed lists of results carefully - or so I thught. When eventually I got a 'short-list', I was sceptical because I had thought that particular competition was done and dusted.
My main problem though is that, althought I know that the story I thought was a winner didn't evn get a mention, I have no idea at all what story got short listed at Malahide!
No doubt you are better at keeping note of things! DQ
Am sure it'll be a pleasant surprise when they let you know, hope they don't expect you to bring it with you to read though!!
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