This New State of Play
My first week of freedom of the classroom, I have been revisiting my own story, enjoying a new state of play, and contemplating what this new stage in life is meant to be, or at the very least, what it means to be me. As Longfellow once lamented, “Act! Take Action! Be Active! Tell me not, in mournful numbers, Life is but an empty dream!” And, as it happens, as once said by wiser folk than I, writers write. Everything else -- everything external -- is beyond our control. However, writing is an internal process. As such, we focus on what we can control: ourselves. Take classes. Read books about the craft. Study mentor books. Adapt, rethink, refocus. Take chances. Leave your comfort zone. Write something new. Write something different. Submit, and submit again. Most important: Persevere. To cite another idiom: We do our best and leave the rest to the universe. Or, as Neil deGrasse Tyson offers much more eloquently -- and really, who else kno...
