Sitting on our balcony playing backgammon drinking 47 Monkey’s Gin and Tonics with a slice of cucumber and a slice of lime aka gin and juice and watching the busy street below reminds me I should be writing 500 words instead of relaxing with my wife.
Nah. Can’t start to soon if you’re procrastinating.
It’s only Sunday. Maybe I’ll play my new surdo and watch Bob’s Burgers or Noir movies. Unless something spectacular happened in the last few days the specific subject of my weekly blog rant goes like this: I have a list of topics and thoughts that haven’t been flushed out (prompts really) that after riffing on, a “concept of a plan” (my new band name) erupts. Or doesn’t, and then it’s between me and the thin air.
Jazz writing?
I usually start Sunday to get it to my cyber goddess Melissa for formatting Monday PM or early Tuesday. That gives me time to make final edits for a Wednesday AM posting (which I ALWAYS do) in the “art is never finished only abandoned” persona inhabiting my being except I wasn’t feeling it.
What happens in any given week to further my publishing efforts? Often nothing. It doesn’t work that way. Things like work or illness or new surdos come into play and then- as John Lennon is attributed to have paraphrased from an old Readers Digest twice removed- “life is what happens while you’re busy making other plans”.
So what’s up? Last week was about engagement and for my efforts a total of 6 people commented, double my average but not exactly a groundswell of support. My heartfelt thanks though to all that lifted a finger on my behalf. I learned a bit about how Linkedin works, or in this case doesn’t. It seems tagging people that don’t respond is worse than not tagging anyone to begin with.
Apparently the algorithm gods frown upon it.
That’s not what I believed/was told, so the gentleman cluing me in (a member of the authors group I’m involved in) offered to speak more in depth about it with me midweek next. Comment wise, a few reinforced my feelings about the book cover possibilities. One of the items on the graphic needs to be larger. Something I thought but didn’t articulate and another needs color and font changes, something I thought and did say. Some new approaches were suggested as well so in that way it was successful. These are first drafts and rarely arrive without the need for evolution.
Lots of minutiae makes a huge difference.
A little bit here and then a little more in time turns into something sizable. I’ve found it true in recording studios and restaurants and is the same in writing. Slowly building and achieving anything inch by inch is an arduous task often filled with doubt. The tenacity it takes for any project to come to fruition is a test of attrition. Success happens for those who don’t give up. So we muddle through misinformation, detour around obstacles and gather new insights-both how to and how not to, and when you look you see progress.
Incremental, but you’re better off than you were.
500 Words – is live on Substack! Follow the journey towards publishing Home Cookin’ – The Stories Behind The Food featuring personal profiles of extraordinary people along with their favorite recipes. Think Studs Terkel meets Julia Child. Subscribe to receive each new story via email: https://alanlake.substack.com/
Alan Lake
Chef/percussionist/writer/
Evolve or dissolve, no other choice💜