On the Endless Pursuit of Everything
For an eternal optimizer like me, it's hard to stay in the moment
Full disclosure: This was supposed to go out last Wednesday. I wrote it up, and I was just waiting for the story I talk about below to go live so I could embed the link and hit the send button. But the story was caught in a limbo of massive proportions, and was just published today. So, apologies for no newsletter last week and no blog this week. I'm working up some really amazing articles, and that's been taking up my time. Now, without further ado, here's the note you should have gotten last week, with the live link to one of the stories of which I'm proudest.
Howdy!
Nice to see you again! Another crazy week is underway, and I'm just going to go ahead and put my favorite adulting meme here because seriously I have been living in survival mode for the last maybe fifteen years.
I talk about that a little on the blog this week - how we try to do everything and end up feeling like perpetual failures because it's literally impossible. Is there a solution? I don't know, do less? Want less? Be satisfied with the current state of things?
For an eternal optimizer like me, that's really hard.
Speaking of eternally optimizing, that contest entry I was trying to write last week. It took a lot out of me. It made me angry and took time from other things I could have been doing. But I think it was worth it, both for the writing craft practice and the practice of articulating my complex and messy feelings about a topic that affects me (and many other mothers) every day.
I ended up writing something like 5000 words to get to the meat of what I was trying to say. It happens sometimes - especially when I have a lot to say on a topic, and especially when I don't know the One Most Important Point I'm trying to make. (This is also known as the thesis statement for you AP English nerds. At least, I think so. I never took AP English.) I solicited a lot of feedback because, well, there's a cash prize on the line, and while I really liked the original story, I wanted to make sure it was the best it could possibly be.
I'm not sure if a single word made it from the original piece to the final. But I think you'll agree that the final one is raw and vulnerable, hopefully the kind of writing that is worthy of a look from the judges. Special thanks to reader and friend Suzann for helping me workshop. And workshop, and workshop. There are three other entry prompts, and I hope to write a piece for each - but with the deadline a mere two weeks away, it's going to be a crunch - especially with everything else on my plate. Here it is: A Mother's Work is Everything. Wish me luck!
If you're looking for a good book this week, I'd recommend A Nearly Normal Family. It's my book club's pick this month, and I really enjoyed it. There are three main protagonists, three versions of the same timeline told one after the other, and two incredibly smart women with good reasons for doing questionable things. I'm also reading The Maidens, by Alex Michaelides, which I might have mentioned before, but I'm still reading it. Not because it's hard to get through, but because by the time I get to it, my eyes are already at half-mast. It's a kind of murder mystery, and I'm eager to see how it unfolds.
Another thing I've been doing (and possibly why I'm so tired by the time I pick up my book in the evenings) is watching Silicon Valley. I used to live in the Valley and my husband is in tech, so I might be predisposed to enjoy this story, but also I am in awe of how Mike Judge (of Beavis and Butthead and King of the Hill) and the writers accomplish such brilliant characterization. Jared, by far, is my favorite character and if you've watched the series I'm confident you'll know precisely why.
Got any book/movie/show recommendations? Any topics you'd like to see me tackle in the blog or in this newsletter? Hit reply and send them my way. I look forward to hearing from you.
Until next time,