The Upside of Being a Writer

Doing something new these days -- interviewing ebook authors who self-publish their own books. It's in a more hopeful mood that I find myself today, therefore, than yesterday.

Of course, our moods come and go like the wind, or today around here, the rains. I awoke early to a light rain, and drove the carpool out to Lowell High School, getting the kids there three minutes before first bell.

Spending much of my time researching colleges, including those with soccer teams, as my 17-year-old has reached the second half of his junior year, and it's time now to work on these things.

It's a daunting task, at first. Slowly, you make progress. Many smaller colleges that might be candidates for him have very slow websites with forms that can take hours to fill out.

Given his soccer skills, there's an entirely different layer to researching colleges for him than if it were a purely academic matter. I requested a visit with a soccer coach for the first time today; we'll see if that comes through.

Booking flights for us to visit various regions is expensive, and while resources are tight, what better use of the small amount of money I have can there be than helping my kids get into colleges where they may thrive?

It's not their fault their parents are writers. We made our choices; if we end up poorer than others, that is due to that choice.

Although I occasionally fall into bitter moods about this, as I did yesterday, 24 hours, as always, brings new perspectives. That's why this journal is such an uneven affair, emotionally. It goes up and down as I do.

Today I am up, relatively speaking.

I've written a lot, published a bunch, interviewed new people, expanded my understanding. And while writing only rarely provides sustenance in material form, the pleasure it brings me must be unknown to those who never try to create anything new or original.

That would be another kind of existence, perhaps one unimaginable to me.

Because I live to create, over and over and over again. And it's fun to be good at it.

-30-