A Week Of Essays

Here at the juncture of a half year I am pausing to take stock of the various essays I have written for several magazines as well as the deadlines looming prior to my trip abroad.  In other words, I am pressed to write ahead, producing in essence two months of work so that I can take a three week break.

Thus far in 2014 I've written at least 55 published essays (these things are like fleas and rather difficult to track and to remember). But I'm also working on some non-deadline essays on a variety of subjects including a personal, medically-related essay on the condition of Ataxia, which is a genetically-predisposed condition in my family.  I hope to write it well.

As it stands now, I'm ahead of pace and should be sending along my July essays early next week.  It's just a matter of mathematics (words per day, pages per week).  To writers like me, time is not so much a factor as productivity.  The words might get written early of a morning or late at night, but it's the pace that produces.

I like to think there is an art to writing the essay, a craft that can perfected through repetition and attention to detail.  Finding the voice, the creative force, are also important.  And usually, after a couple of revisions, an essay is born.

This week has been devoted to the essay.  But only God knows what I will have to produce when I return.