Waiting in Limbo and Chaos as a Creative Writing Process
By: Mackenzie Andersen
Tags: Process, Writing, Meaning, Philosophy, Writing Life

Writing is a similar process. I get to a point where I feel it is heavy or boring, an all over the place mess of a thing, before I can start making it into something that hopefully speaks as a message that I only become conscientious of as part of the process of writing. I might think I know what I am going to write about when I start, or maybe not, but the process follows a formational path of its own, not intended by my direction until the end, when it is. The process of completing a painting is the same as perfecting the details of writing as one pays attention to the flow of the content and the choice of words until it feels right.

Now I am secure that I will not let go of my process in exchange in incorporating other intentions. Stage two of my Medium journey is to follow the advice that I intentionally ignored in stage one.

This post is an experiment in “publishing every day” though I do not know if I will actually take it so far as “every day”. This story is intended to be something written and published in a day. I can have that intention because I am in between writing a story using the chaos process. Once in the chaos process, I do not know that I can switch on the quick post process, but that doesn’t matter today.

My second new goal is to submit to publications with a larger audience on a regular basis. I have built up a collection of published works allowing me to feel the latitude to invest in the waiting period it takes to submit to some larger publications. Previously I needed the closure that publishing brings, but since I have a library of published articles already, I do not need that closure to come at the same rate as previously. Everything is always about process and how each activity or decision interacts with the larger process of writing so that it keeps on flowing at a steady pace.

Photo by jacob-mejicanos-unsplash

One publication with a large readership accepted and published one of my first stories. I did not see a wider readership for that story than my other stories but it targets a niche audience and I had no followers at that time. All stories target a niche audience but as one reads other stories published on Medium, one gets a sense of being part of a global conversation. I also need to make some money to advance my own life goals, and so it is time to embrace popular advice but without letting go of what is valued most deeply.

Since the large publication that published my early story took a long time to respond I had stopped submitting to it, not having the patience required by that process. I didn’t want to let waiting around create a limbo in my work flow, but one day I read an article by its new editor and decided to submit again. This time I got rejected within the space of twenty four hours. My story wasn’t right for their publication, which is the publication’s version of asking “where does a painting fit in the market ?”

I don’t mind a rejection based on not fitting in when it comes within a day of submission. My creative cycle can accommodate a day, and I appreciate that the rejections sound like they are from humans who actually read my story. The most recent one said “ It is an interesting story but..it doesn’t fit”. I place more importance on the first part of the statement than the latter. I know I don’t fit….but the world is evolving, not always the same. I am the world. It is me. We are all One. There is a time and a place for everything. Patience is a virtue, as I always tell my cats but they don’t listen to me.