Talk about a cold open, 2018. The intrepid
canine and I ventured out into a sunny, -5-degree morning, he, the Great
Pyrenees, infinitely more suited in his God-given coat. He stalked on out,
invigorated, as I shivered along, thinking through clacking teeth, I need to
write today.
And every day, really. New Year’s Resolution?
Sure, why not? But soon the revelry and inspiration will wane, spiraling away
like my frozen breath on this artic morning, and what then? For such is the
nature of things: the excitement ebbs, the guests trickle home, even our Muse,
especially any other than the one greeting us each day in the mirror. Life goes
back to its daily grind, but, you know, that’s the thing, isn’t it?
Writing IS a grind, for
most of us anyway. “It is by sitting down to write every morning,” noted
Gerald Brenan, “that one becomes a writer.” Sure, we’ll have moments
of epiphany (too cold and too tired to conjure the adjective for
that…epiphaneous? Epiphanific? Spellcheck has rebuked both). But even those
moments of precious elucidation are fleeting, and we must return to the
grindstone, for it is at once our whetstone, our covenant. Oh, the Muse might
visit, but don’t give up your chair. She might toss you a bone, but she really
only came back for her hat. Keep at it. “If I waited for perfection,” said
Margaret Atwood, “I would never write a word.”
I write fiction, but one
of my favorite scribes is nonfiction icon Erik Larson, who told me, among other
things, that what separates an amateur from professional, is completion. Write
the thing. And yes, there are indispensable ingredients, but as Doctorow
reminded us, “Outlining, researching, talking to people about what you’re
doing, none of that is writing. Writing is writing.”
That it is. So be it
resolved that today, we’ll write. And again, tomorrow. Even if only a little.
And if you miss a day, start over the next. The grind will keep grinding, after
all. “Writing,” said Gwendolyn Brooks, “is a delicious agony.”
Write on.
I’m no writer but I’ve New Years resolutioned myself into doing more of it this year, so thanks for the inspirational quotes from some masters. And ps. I love erik Larson’s books so much I refuse to see any of the films that have been made from them. I don’t care who’s in it either. Happy new year!
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