Phantom Lives" is done
June 28, 1999
4:47 a.m.
A few folks have gotten on me for my entry of a few days ago where I commented that writing is not life.  Belive me, I understand. I cannot imagine not writing. I tried it once for just a week, and cannot recommend it! I am driven to write, or maybe it's better to say that storytelling--because that's what the folks that are commenting back to me seem to really be focusing on (the act of noticing and telling stories, not really writing in specific)--is in my blood. I remember once in Indianapolis being at a friends' house and relating events of a basketball game I and another friend had participated in to a group of people. I was really into it, and using animated exaggeration to get everything out, heightening a few events to make it more interesting. When I was done, one of the wives said "You can tell Ron's a writer." So, rather than dash off a few quick e-mails to respond to those who have politely disagreed with me, I figured I would try to clarify myself here. I'll start by saying that I'll stand by my position. Writing is the physical act of putting stories on paper, the process by which these stories are refined into something that holds water. Writing is struggling within yourself to find, not only the story, but the perfect way to transform the story into language that will transport that story to another person. Writing is about creating manuscripts. Remember, the manuscript is not the story. Writing is the act of recording and drawing meaning. life--living--is the act of participation. You cannot write if you do not live. I could not tell the story of the basketball game, if I had not actually been a part of it, and I wouldn't have told it if I hadn't enjoyed it. I don't think I could honestly say "I cannot live if I do not write" because I've done it. And, to be honest, if I were to say that, I think I would be trivializing this life that through some means I have been given the priviledge of living. Semantics, I suppose. And you are completely free to disagree with me, because you are correct in holding your opinion over mine. Yet, if, for some terrible reason, I were to pass away tomorrow, my immediate regret would not be the stories I didn't get to write. My regret would be that I did not get to see my daughter's graduations from high school and college. That I didn't share my 50th anniversary with my wife. So, that is my foundation. The reason I wanted to go into it here, is that I think it's important. Because my foundation, ironically, is what allows me the freedom to write and to keep producing. It's what keeps me saying that I don't believe in writer's block. If writing was the most important thing to me, and I suddenly found myself in a really tight situtaion on a story, maybe I would freeze up and the words would stop. But writing is not life. If I'm having a problem, it's not a big deal (I can try to tell myself, and even have it work sometimes). And if I can truly belive that, it makes getting through the problem easier.   Have a good one.  Daily Persistence is © Ron Collins |
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"As I sit looking out of a window of the building, I wish I did not have to write the instruction manual on the uses of a new metal." John Ashbery |
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