It's a little bit funny.......

As I write this post, I find myself thinking of Pedro Cerrano.

Pedro Cerrano was the home-run hitter for the Indians in the hilarious movie "Major League".  But he had one major problem:

He couldn't hit a curveball if you gave him a sniper rifle and stopped the ball mid-pitch.  Which led to many very humorous moments throughout the movie, until at the end of course, where in cliche Hollywood style he finds a way to hit the curveball to be one of the big heroes.

What exactly does any of this have to do with writing?

Well, I find myself facing curveballs lately.  For example, the pieces I mentioned for the Safety Pin Review (see previous post) were all rejected.  Not fun, right?  But the email I received from the site's owners was not only personal (rather than a cheesy form letter), but it contained positive comments about my writing.

And those positive comments are the only non-familial positive feedback I've received in a long time.  In a freaking rejection letter.

Another example: my book(s).  Several years ago, I began work on a novel.  A novel that has sat dormant for months because I kind of lost my way on the story and haven't had the energy or inspiration to try to drag it back on course.

Meanwhile, the only real productive work I've accomplished lately is on what I think is becoming a novel.  A piece that started out as a six sentence short, but somehow took on a life of its own.  A book that I didn't set out to write has far and away eclipsed the book that I've struggled toward for the last few years.

Which of course, isn't productive at all in the short run, leading to curveball number three - the only writing that seems to be flowing out of me lately is work that isn't suitable to submit to paying markets or contests, while I'm so blocked on those type of pieces that I've missed deadlines on well over half of the contests and markets I've targeted.

I need a bigger bat.