I saw a cool piece of artwork at the doctor’s office last week: The first part was a translucent blue bowl filled with different colored strips of paper. The second part was a potholder filled with beans and a pen. An inscription on the bowl read “What are you holding on to? Write it down, crumple up the paper, bury it in the beans, and let it go.” I wrote DOUBT on a piece of paper and buried it. If it were only that easy….
This trial-and-error writing is getting interesting. My writing style is starting to evolve; I am even writing about my writing. To date I have developed three unbreakable rules:
1. I only write when I feel like it.
2. I do not write if I am in a bad mood.
3. I do not write anything that I would not send to my mom for her to read.
I may one day reach the point where rule number 3 will have to be broken – but today is not the day.
I have one piece (on politics) that I have been working on for over a month. The edits and additions are coming in fits and starts. I had a lovely creative burst the other morning that really shaped the piece up. I can’t wait to publish it – but I won’t until I feel that it is complete. And I have the feeling that that day is months away.
I’ve noticed that I am typing faster than ever, and without a whole lot of typos. Perhaps I can re-enter the work force as a word processor. I was in fact a word processor in a previous life. That gig wasn’t bad at all – good pay and interesting stuff to read. And, of course, I was good at it. I was weaned on WordPerfect 5.1; I taught myself the app all the way down to the API (Application Programming Interface) calls. That was right around the time I switched careers -- first to administration, then to IT. While I was in IT the company I worked for upgraded from WordPerfect 5.1 to WordPerfect 6.1, then to WordPerfect 9, then to Microsoft Word, which is pretty much the new standard. As an IT manager, I made it a point to not be the office Word expert, as I already wore too many hats. I could get up to speed on Word in less than a month if I wanted to… but I digress.
Or do I? What was I writing about to begin with? Oh yeah – removal of all doubt. I need to confirm what I want to do in life going forward, and get on with it. Is it writing, cooking, both, Management Dave, Tech Dave, or something else entirely?
I think that the correct answer is: all of the above.
Go for it, Dave!
ReplyDeleteI looked at this first just to say that I had one of those (dark suits)
once, but got up one morning and knew that I just couldn't put it on again.
Then I read what you said about writing, and that's what the "go for it" is about. I write all the time - nothing special, but it does the job for me. My letters (shoot from the hip political screeds)
get published in three papers about once a month, so I get a bit of feedback. You can imagine what that's often like, but here's an exchange that might be relevant.
A guy I know read a recent letter and wrote me kind words. I answered that I appreciate the support. He wrote that "it's easy to be supportive when someone else is doing all the work." I responded, "It's not work; it's my valium."
For whatever it's worth.
Dan Lourie
Dave -
ReplyDeletePS
I don't know what this blog stuff is about, not sure how I got here or who "Uncle Dan" might be. I thought I was responding on FB, so catch me there, please.
Dan