Life is always full of changes

I retired two years ago, but I've struggled to get any writing done, because I've been caring for my grandchildren. I love my grandchildren dearly, but it was frustrating not being able to get much work done, very frustrating. I always knew that they would eventually be in school, and I would have more time to write, but that wasn't enough to make me happy. Afterall, I'm getting older each year. Who knows how much time I have left? I certainly don't.

All of that has changed now. My daughter and her family moved to Georgia. And my grandson Kathan started preschool yesterday. I was so out of my element yesterday, I almost didn't know what to do. I had trouble letting go of the stress I've been under for the past two years. Believe me, if you don't know it, raising todlers is stressful, especially when you're in your early sixties. I rarely sat down for more than one or two minutes at a time without having to jump up and do something for one or all of them. My days of caring for them started early and ended late. I've listened to and watched more Sesame Street, Dorothy The Dinosaur, The Wiggles, Caillou, etc., etc., than I ever want to see again.

I was worried about Kathan going to school. I was afraid especially that he would cry when I left him, and his going to school would be stressful for me too and I'd feel guilty about it. No way. Not only did he not cry when I dropped him off at the school, he was happy and joined in with the other kids in their activities without even a look back. Last night, when I put him to bed, he said he wanted to go to school again. This morning, as I was unbuckling him from his carseat at school, he said, "Thank you for bringing me to school, grand pe." It almost brings tears to my eyes as I write this.

I'm still having trouble dealing with the freedom. I mean, I can really do things without trying to get them done in a hurry, without little kids hanging on me, without worrying that I've only got an hour to work, so I must get something done. I mean, this is unreal. I worked two solid hours on my writing yesterday, and I've worked for an hour or more this morning. It's just incredible. And I still have several hours ahead of me to do what I want. I mean, I feel like I'm free. And freedom feels good.

For Many of Us Writers, The Internet Has Set Us Free

The difficulty of getting published today by the big publishers is real for the writer who is more of a mid-list writer, like myself. The prevailing philosophy seems to be that, if they don't think it will be a best seller or earn x-amount of money, the big publishers won't publish it, even if it is well-written. And literary agents have to find novels that they think will meet the big publishers' criteria. And writers have to meet that criteria in their work or forget about being published. Publishing has become a bottom-line business.

What's the majority of us to do (because the majority of us will not write best-sellers)? Has the internet and the self-publishing revolution given us a chance? I think about the USSR and the downfall of the iron curtain. I'm sure the internet and public opinion had something to do with that. What about Tunisia and Egypt? It's pretty well agreed that the revolutions there would not have happened without the internet and Facebook. Is self-publishing on the internet a writer's revolution? I think it is.

I believe the internet has set us free.

We can write any way we want, anything we want. We can experiment. We can follow our dreams.  And we can get published. However, besides our primary goal of writing fiction and non-fiction, the self-published writer should organize his own team of editors and proofreaders and cover artists, etc., and become an internet-marketing expert. It's a huge undertaking for the writer, demanding a significant amount of time and effort. But it will work. It's being done.

The internet has set us free..