Today I talked to two close friends today and had one of those reality checks only real friends will give you. The first conversation was about racing, the second about writing.
On the subject of riding, I am way behind in bicycle racing fitness. I know it sounds cool that I rode 5000 miles in Iraq and a total of 7000 miles last year, but nearly all of it was what racers call "junk miles." I rode to and from work on base. I rode ten-mile laps around the base, but never pushed myself in the way that riding with other racers pushes me.
Anyway, I told my friend about having the PA Senior Games as my goal for the year and the National Senior Games as my goal for next year. He thought that was a good plan. Between the reduced amount of training I do compared to before deployment and the "year off" riding in Iraq, he was sure there was not much chance I would be competitive in licensed races anytime soon, maybe not for years if at all. Comebacks are not easy at 57.
A few hours later I talked to a good friend who is an excellent writer. I said. "Maybe I am wasting my time riding 10 or more hours a week to get back in shape when I have the opportunity to write a book." He asked me what I could get from a book. Clearly not money. Every author I know personally writes for money to supplement their incomes. Then he talked about audience. He reminded me that the people who most admire what I did want me to stop talking whenever politics comes up. And the people who agree with my politics think I am certifiable for going. He's right of course. If I had a Big Idea, maybe, but for right now I just have a title and a lot of stories.
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actually, i think it's very possible that what you "did" was both certifiable and extraordinarily admirable - as to the riding, i trust that first and foremost it's enjoyable! the other stuff pales by comparison.
ReplyDeleteWho is this "friend"?!? Good Lord, Neil. People write books because they cannot NOT write the book they're called to write. In my rarely humble opinion, it's not about what you could "get" from a book, it's about what you contribute by writing out the stories that go with that title. And excuse me, but I'm one author you know very well who does not write books to supplement the already pathetic income I made from writing. (Please see me in my office.)
ReplyDeleteOoooh, Meredith has called you to the office. You're going to get talked to pal!
ReplyDeleteI think Meredith's advice is very sound. If you're only writing for money, then you're not writing for the right reasons. You have a unique perspective that NO ONE else shares, particularly considering what it took for you to make that deployment to begin with. Start writing, keep writing until you've gotten those stories down. Do it for yourself, do it for your family who will have your insights in print for all time, do it for that person who will pick that book up and take from it even one piece of encouragement (but probably a lot more) to run with with respect to their own life.
And tell that other "friend," respectfully, that you'll give him/her a sweet little discount when it's published so they can own their very own copy.
Comebacks are sure difficult, at any age, and you know that better than most of us. But it seems that making choices is worse...
ReplyDeleteSometimes necessity is a blessing. You'll eventually find out if writing is a necessity for you. "Il faut vivre pour écrire et non écrire pour vivre " (Jules Renard).
Brigitte
From Bruder Timotheus:
ReplyDeleteThis was a really good post.
My comment, without having read the others was something like:
Forget competition and books, invest in the boys and you will reap benefits for eternity. Besides, anybody who does not read living authors
make a questionable author.
But then reading the comments, which were also a gas, I had to think that Susan brought both together. Write for your children. Tell them
your story. If anybody else wants to read it (like me) great. But everybody else is unimportant.