Closer to a decision, that is, on whether to market Documenting America as a self-syndicated newspaper column. Today I went through the critiques of the Spavinaw Writers on my query letter and on two prototype columns (no. 1 and no. 6). I have to admit that, after I made a good number of the suggested changes, all three documents are better.

I also gave some more thought to the calling of the writer. At a Yahoo writers group to which I belong, the question came up “how do you know if God is calling you to be a writer?” I posted on that before on this blog, stating that God never seems to talk with me directly, so I have to base my assessment of my calling on grace, gifts, and usefulness evidenced in my life. I thought back to feedback I’ve received on DA, and realized it has somewhat stacked up on the side of doing it. The work tonight on the three pieces let me to believe that maybe this is the direction I should go, even if it means foregoing other creative writing for a while.

I’m going to give it another day or two and, if I pull the trigger, do it on Friday.