Stand back, folks ... Man on a Mission
August 30, 1999
5:07 a.m.
We dropped Brigid off in Louisville yesterday. It was hard. She stood on my parents' porch as I backed out of their driveway. She wore a yellow top embroidered with blue and pink flowers along its neckline. She wore a blue skirt that she was growing out of. Her grandmother stood barely taller than her, and waved (as did my father). Yes, she'll only be gone a week. Yes, I'm glad she's getting to go. I woke up this morning and paid close attention to not stepping on the cat--as is usual. And I stepped through the darkness to the doorway of our room. And I ducked my head into Brigid's room to take a quick look at her--as I always do. Of course, she was gone. It's going to be a very quiet week.   On the trip down we saw the license plates of at least 14 states. That's an interesting total when you figure the drive is about an hour on the interstate. That means we saw people froma different state at an average rate of 1 every 4 minutes or so. And this was Sunday morning, when traffic was light. Chalk it up to another thing that has changed for (what I think is) the positive. So, both "Separated by Sky" and "The Taranth Stone" are complete and in the reader phase of my process. Now I'm working on plotting a novella, which I hope to finish before heading to LA for this year's WotF thing, which--if I remember correctly--starts the 18th of September. Looking back, it's been a very hectic summer. There's been a lot of stuff going on. Lot's of places to be, and things to do. Yada, yada, yada. I'm looking forward to the school year because things should settle into a cycle somewhere along the line. I do better in a cycle. It's just how I've arranged my life. And it works for me. Still, I've gotten a lot written this summer. Not all of it was very good, of course--but who's counting? The problem, I think, is that until the past month, I don't think I've been very focused on anything. I was just writing in a whirlpool of thoughts, letting stories spin out of me in whatever way they came. That works fine, I guess. But I like to feel more control. I like to know what I'm going to write, and why I'm going to write it. So, when I read the quote I put up on the sidebar today, it really struck me. Writers of the Golden Age had a mission. Yes. It feels right. Writers should have a mission. I agree. So, what's mine? I used to have a mission. I think I had an idea of what I wanted to do. At one point, I remember sitting in a restaurant with Lisa Silverthorne and talking about wanting to write something important. When I said it, I think I knew what I meant. Somewhere in the middle of this summer, though, I think I subconsciously realized I had forgotten what that was. My psychological self was standing up and telling me that I had lost a bit of purpose to my work. I was focusing on selling, not on writing. I know I didn't realize that at the time. But it seems right to me when Ilook back on it. So I wrote a plan, and I felt immediately better. Looking at that plan now, I see it includes a story about what was real and what was imaginary. It includes a story about hope, and another story about searching for the meaning of life, and eventually a novel about what it means to be human. You see, I have a mission, too. And I know what it is. Oh, it's nothing as grand as the stars. But I want to write stories about people, and about reactions. I want to write stories that make people think about how they will live tomorrow, stories that might change the way people go about making decisions somewhere along the way. And in doing that, I want to change myself. I write because it's fun. I write because I want to get better at it, and because I think I'm pretty good already (no pulitzer-winner, of course, but when the stuff lines up just right, I can tell a pretty decent story every now and again). Mostly, though, I write because I want to. Have a good day.  Daily Persistence is © Ron Collins |
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"...science fiction, particularly in its Golden Age, had a mission. I cannot, of course, speak for my friends of that period. But from [John W.] Campbell and from "shooting the breeze" with other writers of the time, one got the very solid impression that they were doing a heavy job of beating the drum to get man to the stars." L. Ron Hubbard introduction to Battlefield Earth |
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