Still Plugging Away
Jun. 7th, 2015 07:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
teddy_radiatorI really don't have any reason to feel this out of sorts. I'm not in any physical distress, we've got a smidgeon of money in the bank, I'm not having any personal conflicts with anyone, and I've just watched a morning of Morcambe and Wise, which should be enough to jolly anyone out of their doldrums. I can only surmise that it's hormonal, and I'll just have to deal with it.
I'm also frustrated with myself in that I've not written anything of note in over a month. Ever since I started sending out query letters and receiving rejection letters I've had no real desire to write. This causes a strange niggling in my frontal lobe which is part frustration, part mental constipation and part guilt. I feel like I should be polishing up Book Two, but I'm fighting the Why Bother fairy.
Don't get me wrong - I haven't given up or thrown in the towel. Far from it. I'm far from that. I'm just suffering from this strange malaise that I can't quite put words into.
All this reminded me of a comic strip in the 80's called Pluggers. Jeff MacNelly, the artist who created the comic, said that "Pluggers are the eighty percent of humanity who do one hundred percent of the work. They lack pretensions and appreciate the small things. The honour at least some traditions, but they are equally adept at changing channels, changing careers and changing diapers. They've met deadlines, tasted failure, tested the speed limit and probably have a good supply of duct tape. They are, in other words, us...or at least the great majority of us who care about getting the job done and keeping home and hearth together. And who generally succeed - somehow. By wit and by grit. Somehow we hang on and hang in there, never losing heart - even if it's been triple-bypassed."
The comic was so popular that people started sending the artist their definition of a Plugger, which he promptly would draw up for his daily comic. My dad loved the comic so much that he nicknamed his best friend Carl Vermillion Plugger - and it so stuck that it's what many of his friends still call him today. MacNelly actually compiled most of his one-panel comics into a really nice little book called Calm In The Face of Disaster, which I gave to Dad on his last Christmas. Mom kindly gave it back to me, and I have kept it ever since. I find it both funny and encouraging. It really does give you the impetus to just keep plugging away, because so many of his Plugger characters are so like me and the people I know and love.
While I was looking through it, I came across not one but two that referenced writers, and thought I'd share them with you. They certainly made me smile about something I haven't really smiled about since I started sending out query letters.
I'm also frustrated with myself in that I've not written anything of note in over a month. Ever since I started sending out query letters and receiving rejection letters I've had no real desire to write. This causes a strange niggling in my frontal lobe which is part frustration, part mental constipation and part guilt. I feel like I should be polishing up Book Two, but I'm fighting the Why Bother fairy.
Don't get me wrong - I haven't given up or thrown in the towel. Far from it. I'm far from that. I'm just suffering from this strange malaise that I can't quite put words into.
All this reminded me of a comic strip in the 80's called Pluggers. Jeff MacNelly, the artist who created the comic, said that "Pluggers are the eighty percent of humanity who do one hundred percent of the work. They lack pretensions and appreciate the small things. The honour at least some traditions, but they are equally adept at changing channels, changing careers and changing diapers. They've met deadlines, tasted failure, tested the speed limit and probably have a good supply of duct tape. They are, in other words, us...or at least the great majority of us who care about getting the job done and keeping home and hearth together. And who generally succeed - somehow. By wit and by grit. Somehow we hang on and hang in there, never losing heart - even if it's been triple-bypassed."
The comic was so popular that people started sending the artist their definition of a Plugger, which he promptly would draw up for his daily comic. My dad loved the comic so much that he nicknamed his best friend Carl Vermillion Plugger - and it so stuck that it's what many of his friends still call him today. MacNelly actually compiled most of his one-panel comics into a really nice little book called Calm In The Face of Disaster, which I gave to Dad on his last Christmas. Mom kindly gave it back to me, and I have kept it ever since. I find it both funny and encouraging. It really does give you the impetus to just keep plugging away, because so many of his Plugger characters are so like me and the people I know and love.
While I was looking through it, I came across not one but two that referenced writers, and thought I'd share them with you. They certainly made me smile about something I haven't really smiled about since I started sending out query letters.
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Date: 2015-06-08 01:34 pm (UTC)I love the cartoons! There's a lot of truth in them. Thanks for sharing them with us. :D