Maiden Voyages

Over the winter, my husband and I purchased a used camper trailer and last week we finally got it out of dry dock, as Ray referred to it, and hit the road. This maiden voyage of Camp Dash made me think of all the firsts I’ve been dealing with lately and the similar problems that arise.
We hadn’t made it six miles from home when the break-away cable pulled loose at a sharp turn at an intersection, locking up the trailer brakes. Let me tell you, the brakes work. Big old monster truck wouldn’t budge that camper. We both jumped out. I directed traffic while Ray scurried to make a quick repair and an adjustment to prevent a reoccurrence.

Traveling on Interstate 80, we encountered an obstacle course at 60 MPH. A tractor trailer’s tire had separated. A large chunk of tread sprawled across half of our lane of traffic. I managed to say, “look out.” At that speed, it’s hard to verbalize, “Slow down, honey. There’s a chunk of rubber in the middle of the road.” Ray swerved onto the berm of the road to miss the black mound, but there sat the tractor trailer that was now missing a large portion of its tire, so we had to swerve back. The trailer rocked and swayed, but a little finesse with the brakes and gas got it rolling straight and true again.

During our four days of camping we discovered a few bugs with our new/used camper. We thought the exhaust fan over the stove doesn’t work. Then when we were packing up to head home, we discovered the trick to it. But we never did figure out what one of the light switches does. Maybe next trip.

Another maiden voyage I’m taking is into the world of writer seeking representation for her work. I have received my first rejection, which was a really nice rejection as they go. Personal note. Kind words. But it was a rejection nonetheless. I’m familiar with rejections. My rejection file overflows with less personal notes for my short stories and articles. There’s a file for contracts, too, though it’s not nearly as full. At least it’s not empty. One thing I have not experienced is an acceptance for my longer work. I look forward to that first. In the meantime, I’m learning from my failed pitches, from the comments that follow the “but” at the end of the kind words and from the advice of friends who have tread this path before me.

Maiden voyages are like that. Mistakes are made. Obstacles overcome. You learn how to do stuff that you never had to deal with before. Such is the case with this blog. I’ve been enjoying reading lots of blogs belonging to writing friends and acquaintances and a few total strangers who have come to feel like friends. Now, it’s time to launch my own.

This blog is basically going to be about writing, but my interests vary so much that lots of other topics will intermingle with the writerly stuff. It all comes back to the writing, though, probably because my brain always processes the events in my day-to-day existence into fodder for a story or at the very least an emotional response for one of my characters.

So this is the maiden voyage of Writing, etc. Let’s hit the road.