The Submission Cycle and Watching

It's been a long process of slacking. I haven't truly written a new piece in about a week and I haven't had any editing done, but that's going to change today. I'm taking a solemn vow to send out three pieces by Friday, and I'll be damned if someone is going to get in the way of me and my rejection letters.

So I stared that last night and got an entire story edited and sent out. I'm focusing on two other pieces that are not quite as close as that one, but we will see what I can come up with. It should be interesting to see what forced editing will produce on these stories.


In other words I've come to realize that watching is an acquired skill. The passive form, looking, is something that everyone has a personal forte in, but actually watching something and seeing the minute details is something that is truly difficult. I have found that people need to watch things several times to get the gist of what they are watching, but to really watch is to observe the details of something near perfectly the first time that you look at it. Honestly watching different activities is almost as different as performing said activity, and the two are closely linked. The act of watching an activity and being able to perform it.

By gaining skill in general watching, just like gaining practice in basic practicing, means that you pick up on the details quicker than an unskilled watcher. The focus needed is something that is relatively unknown in today's society, but not all forgotten. It takes the same skills as truly reading or truly participating. To dive so deep into a subject so that you lose conscious thought and just immerse your senses into it. A watcher is like a reader or an athlete, they can separate extraneous reality from what is pertinent and become one with the activity that they are seeing.

Why watch? Because, to watch is the first step to any forethought. Forethought allows consciousness before time blurs past. Watchers can see the details and know when to look for them. Watching takes effort and skill, but it is wasted unless that insight is put to task.

So watch and watch well, but don't get so lost in watching that you forget to act.

Ciao!