A Gift of Figs

quercuscommunity

Aug 16

I spent twenty minutes last night on final editing for a submission. Time is pressing and I am trying to show more ambition this month. Unfortunately, as I filled out the list of submissions I noted that I had already submitted it to someone else. I have so many in various states of completion that I sometimes lose track - hence the list. It doesn't help when, as with this one, the file is listed under one name but the submission is listed under a different one. Titles change and I don't always change the file names. It happens.

So, two things. One is that I wasted twenty minutes. Two is that the edits make it a far better piece, so I am annoyed for submitting something that needed more work. This annoyance will worsen if it is returned. I will blame myself for sloppy work. If it is accepted, I will feel annoyed that I'm not showing my best work. There is an obvious lesson about organisation and efficiency in this story, but my files are in a mess and I can't see an easy way to sort it. Over Christmas I will reorganise things and make more effort to keep things straight.

It is not the first time I have said something similar, and the fact that I have files on the computer with words like "Old", "New Start" and "Tidy Up" in the name, provides proof of this. I have around 45 active haibun and tanka prose, though it's difficult to be precise with the chaotic filing system. I just wrote a list of them, as I need to make an effort to get them all properly finished. As I did that, I realised that some weren't good enough to justify making more effort with them. That happens all the time. I can work on something for a year sometimes, before it strikes me that it simply isn't good enough. Mostly it's because it isn't very interesting, or because it rambles on without reaching a point. If I think it's dull or pointless there's a very good chance that editors will do the same.will find the same.

The pictures? The garden fruit harvest has begun. We picked plums at the weekend and Julia brought apples back from the gardens. Tonight, one of the neighbours brought figs round. It's one of my favourite times of year, though it's always a little sad that the year is beginning to come to an end.