Setbacks: Stepping Back to Move Forward

I can across a formatting issue that forced me to reassess the use of a poem in my collection to be published later this year. Not only did the poem fail to fit onto the required page size, but the embedded formatting skewed all the other pages. So annoying was this quandary of trying to get everything to fit and work together just right, that my eighteen-year-old suggested that I take a break for the rest of the day. I teased him about going back to it later. But, I realized his wisdom.

Because today, I discovered on easy it was to solve the stylistic annoyances. I also chose a much simpler poem to replace the complex one that I had never intended to include in the collection.

Sometimes we discover we are setting ourselves up for a setback in our writing endeavors if we fail to step back--i.e. take a break--in order to move forward with the proper perspective. I didn't lose much either. I simply replaced a poem. I will let it stand on its own as it was meant to do.

It is still a bit of a puzzle, this poem titled "Password." Have fun deciphering its hidden answers in the construct of the whole. But, take heed of what you find as well. Many see the one without figuring out the other. Applying both, however, is the best solution.