Archive for the 'Tennis' Category

December 3, 2005 | Tennis,Writing

Ok, so my son played tennis last night and won. Now, he plays again tonight. The hour drive isn’t so bad. He was very proud of his win, and should be. For several years, he’d go out in the first round and be miserable. Just like writing. Think about entering writing contests, and not even achieving a repeatable score. We keep entering more and danged if our scores don’t keep getting better, which means our writing is improving, and we final in a contest. Ya hear me Sloane! My son keeps working on his serve, improving his footwork, and keep a positive attitude about his overall game, even when some powerhouse beats him. He returns to the court, works with his pro, critique partners in our case, and looks for another tournament to enter. I keep telling him to push, improve his weaknesses, use his strengths, and keep trying. Yep, the same applies to writing. Tomorrow, I’ll post Goal Number Two for 2006.

December 2, 2005 | Tennis,Writing

Well, I wish I could report that today I spent at least five hours working on my December goal of editing my manuscript. Nope, goal number one fell to the wayside. I played tennis. A singles drill that left me exhausted after an hour and a half. I had to focus on playing against Karen, who runs every ball down and returns it. It was just the two of us, normally it’s three or four, so there was more running than normal, and the pro, Kathy moves us around. Now, it’s time to take my son to a tennis tournament about ninety minutes from home. Could someone explain to me how Chicago tennis tournaments take place in every northern suburb but not Chicago? I did make some notes about how my hero, Stephen, reacts when he sees Elizabeth in her formal gown. He admires her in it, and then mentally undresses her. I will be working on this chapter Saturday and Sunday. Responses to my last post, by Jenna, Sherrill, and Sloane were great. We’re all experiencing completion performance issues. There’s no pill for to solve this, so hussies, suck it up, strap it down in your chair and write. I’ve been listening to way too much sports talk radio. I read an article in the November issue of The Writer, by Chuck Leddy, describing the jobs of four famous writers. Tell me if this reminds you of any of your co-workers. William Faulkner was a postmaster in Oxford, Mississippi. He was the worse one the town ever had. He sat around, writing, drinking, playing cards, and neglecting his job. He would read magazines he was suppose to deliver, then throw them out. He lasted three years. Today, he’d be promoted to Postmaster General and retire with a full pension.