Howdy,
You know, it’s hard to do things you haven’t done before. Certainly harder than after you’ve struggled through it on your own a time or two.
Today I sent out my first MailChimp email “campaign.”
It didn’t go out to thousands, but it went out to people I appreciate thousands. And there’s others I’d like to send future communications via fancy-pants MailChimp. (At least it feels fancy-pants at first.)
Never having done it — whatever “it” is for us — before, I’m finding, tends to make me drag my feet. I want first tries to be polished, perfect, professional. I want to mirror the projection of the pros. It’s more that I have to work the process of the pros: but you don’t always get to see far enough back into their struggles. (Again, welcome along the journey!)
Struggles with simple things, sometimes.
A say simple things because I’ve also found that sometimes when you do “hard” things for the first time you discover (without losing too much blood) it’s not so much difficult as it is time-consuming: requiring mostly willingness to work slowly, painfully, and progress in cycles rotating backward ahead of rolling forward.
Upon slogging through, the accomplishment feels great — before feeling a little silly for being so pleased at achieving something so simple: and after so much time. Yet, nonetheless, it’s done. Which is great, and worth a smile.
And then I imagine it’s like they say about Texas Hold ‘em: “It’s a game that takes five minutes to learn but a lifetime to master …” or something cliché like that; and maybe they’re not even telling the truth, those guys. On poker, I don’t know that I’m interested in losing that much money.
But there are hard things worth overcoming and going over, over and over again.
That’s what a writing life will take.
A lifetime.
—Billy
Reading. Writing. Living.
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