Little Egrets – almost in the back garden . . .

I’m slowly getting back into the swing of things. With a new house and wife who is determined to use her retirement to make me do things, I’m going to have plenty to do (we still have to finish moving an awful lot of stuff). However, I want to get back to writing. This, traditionally, is the time of year when I count up the submissions and the acceptances and decide if I have done enough.

It’s tricky this year. I have definitely not done enough but I have had other things on my mind like the chest infection, the trip to urology and the house move. I’m cutting myself some slack here. It’s not been an overly productive year, but it’s not been bad either, and I do have excuses. Of course, I’ve always had excuses, which is why I am in my 67th year with my carefully horded “potential” still intact.  If I’m not careful I am going to go to the grave with the song still in me (to misquote Thoreau).

May, and the end of an era

Last year I had  20 acceptances and 7 rejections. With the one I am sending this afternoon that will be 28 submissions. It compares with 37 for the year before. Because I lost some paperwork to computer glitches (or, more precisely, my ineptitude in backing things up) I’m not sure what my figures are for previous years.

As I recall, I was pushing towards 50 submissions a year at one time and talking about trying for a hundred, because that’s the figure that is often use in articles on writing and rejection. The theory is that trying for 100 submissions (some even try for 100 rejections) stops the sting of rejection, gives you plenty of practice and makes you more industrious. Blog posts don’t count, because there is no chance of rejection. I can, I suppose, add my 23 pieces for the Numismatic Society of Nottingham FB page, as there is a small chance of rejection there.

Admiral Vernon and Commodore Brown – the start of my numismatic writing career in retirement 

However, that’s still a lot of submitting to be done if I’m going to make a serious attempt on 2025.

First I will get the last submissions of 2024 done, then I will start on the plan for 2025.

Pictures are some highlights from 2024. It takes all sorts . . .