Monday, June 8, 2009

The Contradiction

A friend responded to my last post thusly:

Do you write because you want recognition? Money? Fame? Or do you write because you are compelled to do so?

"If I care how others perceive my passions, they cease being passions and become affectations."

Write for the pleasure of writing, even though it is filled with frustration. As long as the compulsion (obsession, even) is greater than the frustration, write. When the frustration wins out, take a break until the compulsion grows.
Sound advice.

Two things. I didn't mean to imply frustration with writing. When a particular piece stops calling to me, I move to a different one. I'm confident the narrative will ask me back.

Second, I will keep pushing a cursor and scribbling in a Moleskine notebook whether anyone outside friends or family ever sees. This is true. It's also true that I have a raving desire for national recognition.

Neither statement alone describes what writing means to me, but you'll find the truest version of me in that contradiction.

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