Trouble with the Learning Curve

Picture Clint Eastwood sitting in the stands, watching Amy Adams and Justin Timberlake struggle to break barriers and open their hearts.

That image has little to do with this week’s message, I’m just a big Atlanta Braves fan and liked the movie.

Looking back at my previous posts helped me identify a few trends.

First off, sometimes I sound a little whiny. I promise it’s not intentional. Please. Please. Please. Don’t stop following me.

Second, they show my struggle to get a handle on this part of the writing game.

This is how I have to attack writing, by taking each step slowly, learning as much as I can at one level before moving on to the next. For the past few years I’ve concentrated on moving my writing from random words strung together with questionable style and bad grammar to plotted stories with coherent flowing meaning and bad grammar.

My learning curve up to this point has been a slow build, known only to me and immediate family. Now I’m out. Now I’m learning in front of an audience (okay, a gathering) (okay, those of you who stumbled into this post because you clicked a link.)

My book, ABSOLUTION’S CURSE, is very important to me. I strongly believe in its core message; the belief that forgiving yourself is more difficult than being forgiven by others.

I’m proud of the outcome from years of research, studying, and bleeding words into a keyboard. Although I still have much to learn (grammar), I’m content with how far I've come.

So where am I now?

Here. Drawing readers to my blog, forming a gathering, building an audience.

My hope is for it to pay off with a few honest reviews posted on Amazon or Goodreads to attract more readers to download my story and fund the purchase of a nice umbrella. (Please see my inaugural post to discover the meaning of that reference.)

In the grand scheme, I don’t know what, if anything, to expect from this release. Maybe something will catch. Maybe I’m building toward future success with my next book. Maybe I’m destined to bang randomly on my keyboard like a room full of underappreciated monkeys.

That’s the trouble with the learning curve. But it can only help to make the next attempts go smother, right?

The tagline of Mr. Eastwood’s movie is “Whatever life throws at you.” That’s how I’m approaching this phase of writing. I’ll take what’s thrown at me, learn, and hopefully apply it to future endeavors.

Keep learning. Keep writing. Keep swinging at curveballs.

Lance (C.L.) Blanton