three little dots

I had been feeling a little down about my writing as of late. I have been in similar situations before *see Writer’s Doubt*, but this felt different. Things were simply at a standstill and I was just festering. 

My book research was at a stalemate until I could squeeze in another interview with my Grandparents. My blog was getting dusty and it was not for want of trying. I had a whole cache of word documents with nothing more then 3 or 4 un-spirited sentences about all things lame and boring. I believe there is even an attempted blog post saved somewhere about the differences between green tea drinkers and coffee drinkers which I did not post - you’re welcome.

I was really starting to doubt that I could write anything interesting or well structured that someone would actually want to read. 

Then I received an email from the Editor of The New Quarterly asking me to write a biography of the literary journal’s Wild Writers Festival for the Waterloo Arts Awards ceremony as the festival had been nominated for an award. I was petrified. I am a very new member of the journal’s Board of Directors and this was my first task - I was nervous. No - I was petrified. 

I slowly read my assignment; 

• 3 bullet points, 45 words maximum. 
• A concise overview of festival or event career highlights

Seems simple enough.

I agonized over this. Seriously I did. 

I poured everything into those three bullets and emailed a document of exactly 45 words (a near impossible feat for someone as verbose as me), formatted into 3 bullets, with all words spelled correctly to the TNQ editor. Then I waited anxiously for a response. 

And then it arrived - a short little email indicating that my 3 bullets were “great” and appreciation for my taking this little project on. 

I was elated!

Sometimes it’s the little things, like 45 little words in the right direction.

Maybe that green tea drinkers vs coffee drinkers blog idea wasn’t that bad....

No it was.