A Fish in Water

Last week I submitted The Spirits of Innovation for the anthology Arcane Intelligence and wrapped up the first draft of The Nuclear Option for the Killer Kaiju anthology. This week I began editing Uncle Jake’s Follies for Hold My Beer Heroes. I also queried the publisher Rogue Phoenix Press regarding my novel Soiled Undies & Other Gorgon Encounters. Anything to avoid having to do the print layout myself.

A solid week. Feels like I’ve found a bit of a rhythm with the writing for anthologies. As I told my wife at the start of this writing thing, for once in my life, I feel like a fish in water. No, I don’t think I’ve hit my stride yet. Yes, I still have a lot to learn. But it feels like something I’m actually adept at. That it fits into my natural skill set. It’s still hard work, but it doesn’t feel like I’m cutting against the grain.

That’s new to me. Athletics was never easy for me. Last picked in sports throughout grade school. Undersized and lacking in natural athletic attributes like strength, speed, or stamina. I developed my judo skills through perseverance. Stick around long enough and you’ll eventually become good compared to folks who are new to the sport. Sure, lots of my contemporaries were better, but their careers ended decades earlier.

Same with CrossFit. Didn’t bring a lot of natural aptitude for it. Just grit and a determination to get better. Attended every specialty certification available. And from 2013, committed to completing every workout programmed. For over 11 years. And eventually, somewhere in that time, something clicked, and I became competent. Not outstanding, mind you. Just decent.

I’m not cut out for business. Oh, sure, I’ve enjoyed some modest success. After making every error along the way. Someone with an aptitude for business would own half a dozen locations by this point. Me, I’m just thrilled to still be in the game.

This is not to say I haven’t enjoyed the journey. I like challenges. I love learning. And I am proud of what I’ve accomplished swimming upstream. I’ve developed a solid base of competency in domains that are not naturally suited to my skill set or temperament. I’ve enjoyed modest success despite a lack of aptitude.

But writing feels different. With writing, it feels like I’ve got the wind at my back for the first time in my life. And hey, I’m not unrealistic about it. I’ve come to the craft rather late in life. The best in the business committed to the craft in their youth and made it their full-time pursuit. I don’t expect, given my late start and the meagre thousand words per day I am able to commit to my writing practice, that I’m going to set the world ablaze with my prose. But I do feel like I am better than I have the right to be and that I’m improving my craft at a respectable pace. For once in my life, instead of grinding through, I feel like the output exceeds the input. As if instead of struggling to overcome inertia, the flywheel is working in my favour.

Or maybe I’m delusional. But either way, I’m having fun.

This week I published a fun little zombie story, That Bites, from my Bleeding the Dark Humours collection. Enjoy:  https://brainsoupfic.substack.com/p/that-bites