You Have No New Messages in ‘Inbox’
If you are an author, writer, or generally impatient person, you do not like seeing this message in Outlook Express or hearing it when you dial your voice mailbox.
In a sales meeting fourteen years ago, my “Team Leader” said what was being asked of us was tantamount to putting our souls on the chopping block. I never forgot those words - I revisit that sales meeting over and over in my life, in one form or another - promoting my book, querying an editor, convincing my husband to buy me new furniture…all these years later I am still selling, and I have the life lines on my face to prove it. I suppose sitting at my laptop my expression changes from pensive, to desperate, depressed, and less frequently ecstatic as I await responses to the advanced reading copies I have sent magazines, chefs, newspapers and celebrities.
It’s enough to send me into the kitchen at 10:00 a.m. to cook dinner. That’s how I cope, I cook, and in the past week I’ve simmered, slow roasted and sauteed enough food for my neighborhood (I’m on a soup kick right now).
As I bring the broth to a boil, I glance over at my laptop, sneering at me from the kitchen table. Yes, I have indeed lost my mind, when I think a machine is mocking me.
But at the helm of my stove, adding lentils or peas or risotto, I come back to reality when my rational little voice tells me that never more in my life has patience been required. That’s all this is, it’s a waiting game. I want my phone to ring off the hook, I want my inbox flooded with messages - just like I want world peace, enough organic food to feed more people than my neighbors, and like my five year old daughter wants to wear lipstick. Being so closure-driven helped me get my book published, but it handicaps me now, and is one hell of a learning tool when I’m in the mood for personal growth.
I take a deep breath to make sure my soup is accurately seasoned. I have an instinctive feeling that it will work out fine, I’ve also got the eccentricity to believe my obstinance will expedite fate. Okay, world, humble me - I once heard I can get it in the form of a pie, does that offer still stand?
Because I’m awfully hungry.
