Novel Writing, Websites, and Sugar Dragon Angst

Prompted by Poets and Storytellers United to shape words around the phrase "It's Been A Long Time Coming", I immediately thought of the writing process. I'm in the proofreading stage on the editorial calendar for the novel I've worked on since 2012. In between gaps in that calendar, I'm working on a website (another Long-Time-Coming) and trying to turn a couple of short stories into novels. That endeavor began during NaNoWriMo as I attempted to combine two into one but didn't get very far. I've never been an outliner but now I see why some writers prefer that approach. 

On another "Long Time Coming" subject, I've been trying to rid my figure of all those Christmas cookies, cakes, festive punches and bourbon slushes we indulged in. To be honest, this is a lifelong seesaw occurrence for me. This time I'm forcing my family into the Whole 30 plan with me. Wow. I never realized how much sugar "they" sneak into our foods under different names like sucralose and dextrose, even stevia, all the same to our brain. Not just ketchup (which was suspected) but lunch meats, chicken and beef broth, even some mustards have added sweeteners.  We've gotten so used to them, whole foods without added sweeteners seem bland and boring. On the average, Americans consume over 57 pounds a year. No wonder we are notoriously subject to obesity, diabetes, and many other ailments. 

The sugar dragon is a tenacious creature, but we have him in a pen and are about to lead him down the chute to slaughter. Long time coming!

Yet, I think about food all the time. Especially when in the throes of website building and navigating Word's track changes with an editor.  While my experience seemed endless with the dragon of self-doubt always breathing down my neck, I know novelists who've spent twenty plus years on a project. How does one soldier on while slaying the beast in the closet? As Sylvia Plath said, "The worst enemy to creativity is self doubt." 

The Remaindered Novelist

                                                                        

                                The wastebasket is the writer’s best friend.                                                                                                                                            - Isaac Singer

                                                   Remaindered, v: (to dispose of a book left unsold at a reduced price)

The Remaindered Novelist

 

Once had a debut named Cannon

spectacularly reviewed

bound in calfskin and vellum.

 

But a blogger was unkind

And a brushfire engulfed him.

Now he’s remaindered—

a sale table has-been.

 

Seagulls caw and scavenge

outside his writer’s retreat

on a windswept dune

to which he absconded.

 

With spring’s coy blush

tourists trek over his dune

with painted toes and smart phones

on a hunt for the juice.

 

But his jump shot was perfected

with crumpled up vellum

and no trace remains of

Cannon’s war-weary fellow.

Written for Shay's Word Garden - "The Legacy of Ladysmith"  Her word list challenge this week for an original poem was taken from the forgotten novel, The Legacy of Ladysmith by John Kenny Crane. 

I had never heard of this novel (the Boer Wars?) but it sounds intriguing and I can think of many more worthy novels to be relegated to the sale table. 

What writer doesn't fear the dreaded remaindering?