photo from Clemson University Newsroom, March 2008
In an ironic twist of fate, I had my patience tested yesterday. See, I’ve been meaning to start a series of posts on the questions people ask me about my work… and my responses to them.
As people spend time with my work, at some point they invariably make some comment about patience. An admiring, “Wow, what patience you have!” Or a self-deprecating, “I could never do what you do. I don’t have the patience.”
So yesterday I set out to write a post about patience. Added incentive was provided by my new commitment to spend twenty minutes every day writing (and that doesn’t count e-mail!)
I set my timer. I wrote. It was good. I liked what I was writing. It came easily, was fresh, funny, honest… I was pleased. Okay, just save the draft for a final proofread later, and …
Poof!
I don’t know what was up with WordPress yesterday, but “Save Draft” resulted in “revert to what was on the page before you started writing,” i.e. the title! My post was gone.
Well, as I had written, I’m actually not a very patient person. (“Ask my husband. Ask my parents,” I wrote.)
Given that, I think I handled the experience pretty well. I even laughed. A poet recently told me about how important it is to learn not to fall in love with your own work. Maybe I liked my post a bit too much. I’ll write it again soon, but differently I’m sure. For now, it’s like one of those Tibetan sand mandalas that gets swept into the river at its most beautiful. Bye bye post! See you around! In your next unique incarnation…
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