Tuesday, December 21, 2004

Giving them cartoons

I sense that my attempts to promote reading and last night's sermonette on Advent were not widely (or even wildly) received.

I'm somewhat frustrated today (as I have been for the past week) by the grind of writing and the the holidays, as well as the book. Sometimes it all seems bigger than I'm capable of.

While I don't think I'm the world's greatest writer, I feel that I've written some solid content for much of the past year. A couple of articles that I've written have been excellent. Despite that, I continue to wallow in relative obscurity.

One particular article I was especially proud of is my article, In Hadlock's Shadow that I wrote for The Portland Pigeon (sorry, no website) back in July. Unfortunately, few people saw this investigative piece, although it did become the springboard for my book. Meanwhile, I struggle with maintaining any consistency on the freelancing side. Most of the dailies "throw me a bone" from time to time, allowing me a feature story, but those are few and far between. Face Magazine, which I've been writing for and enjoying for the past couple of months, has seen its editor Paul Woodfin leave the magazine after five years. Woodfin, a classy guy and appreciative of writing talent, has decided to pursue something else. Now I have to prove myself afresh to a new editor who doesn't seem particularly receptive to my writing.

I've received responses from a handful of readers and for them, I'm grateful. Overall however, I'm feeling terribly obscure and neglected.

Well, enough wallowing in my own self-pity for today. Since I don't feel like writing anything requiring much thought, I'll leave you with cartoons.

Oh, and I also love Boondocks!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think you should give yourself a giant pat on the back for doing it and sticking to it and persevering. I myself have thought of trying freelance writing but I find the mere idea of it paralyzing. All I can think is: I have nothing to say; I'm an ass; Why would anyone want to read this... and so on. :)

My hat's off to you.

Cheers,
asfo_del
http://livingonless.journalspace.com

Jim said...

asfo_del,

Thanks for stopping by and leaving such a kind comment--it means alot.

Also, thanks for putting up a link for WordsMatter on your blog, which I've been a fan of for quite some time.

I love the transparency that you bring to all that you write.

Jim