{"id":1002,"date":"2016-07-03T18:32:46","date_gmt":"2016-07-03T18:32:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.writingwhiledistracted.com\/?p=1002"},"modified":"2016-10-18T16:27:06","modified_gmt":"2016-10-18T16:27:06","slug":"the-deep-end-of-the-pool","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.writingwhiledistracted.com\/?p=1002","title":{"rendered":"The Deep End of the Pool"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"IMG_5682\"<\/a><\/p>\n

My kids have been swimming in this pool since they were twelve months old. \u00a0The first time we came to visit their grandparents we would all take turns with them in the water. We used tiny life jacket and floats to help them learn to navigate the pool. \u00a0Back home we spent hours at the YMCA pool with swim classes and family swim time. Beside the fact that I think that everyone should know how to swim as a matter of personal safety, \u00a0I wanted my kids to be comfortable in the water. Notice I said comfortable not cocky. I wanted them to respect the process of swimming and to understand that not everything in life can be “hacked”. <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Work, practice, and more work are the keys to getting better and experiencing success at anything. And work means that, doing the thing you want to be better at,\u00a0swimming, cooking, writing, whatever, \u00a0not\u00a0reading about it, or talking about the thing. You have to do the thing. Short cuts are for road trips, not skills.\u00a0There is no\u00a0substitute\u00a0for time and practice.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0I am constantly amazed by the people I meet who expect overnight success as a writer. Writing, just like swimming requires time and commitment and overcoming your fear. Submitting a \u00a0short story, or poem, or novel, or play, or whatever it is that you write is like jumping into the deep end of the pool. \u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0Don’t expect the first time you submit your work to go smoothly. \u00a0You will\u00a0freak out and stew and worry before you press the send\u00a0button or drop the package in the mail. \u00a0You will most likely be rejected and flail and struggle to get to yourself to submit again.\u00a0Don’t quit, be fearless, jump in with both feet, honor the\u00a0process of learning and practice. <\/span><\/strong>\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"IMG_5639\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Do the work, hit the send button, then get back to work so you can jump again.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My kids have been swimming in this pool since they were twelve months old. \u00a0The first time we came to visit their grandparents we would all take turns with them in the water. We used tiny life jacket and floats … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,9],"tags":[54,176,58],"class_list":["post-1002","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-self-care","category-writing-tips","tag-craft-of-writing","tag-learning-as-a-writer","tag-writing-advice"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.writingwhiledistracted.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1002","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.writingwhiledistracted.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.writingwhiledistracted.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.writingwhiledistracted.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.writingwhiledistracted.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1002"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blog.writingwhiledistracted.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1002\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1009,"href":"https:\/\/blog.writingwhiledistracted.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1002\/revisions\/1009"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.writingwhiledistracted.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1002"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.writingwhiledistracted.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1002"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.writingwhiledistracted.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1002"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}