Re: Writer's on this List

Win Boogie (WinBoogie@aol.com)
Mon, 23 Mar 1998 12:45:24 -0500 (EST) 

In a message dated 98-03-23 05:43:19 EST, you write:

<< Isn't there some sort of Test that will tell me I'm a writer and should
 die if I don't, or some single criteria or something?
  >>
  Try doing something else. If you wake up with a pain in your chest every
day, you're probably a writer. I once put aside my musical aspirations to
focus on a proper career. I returned to school to become a teacher, or some
equally respectable thing. Within a week I was going out of my head and began
spending all my time with the music students, staying up until all hours
listening to records and playing guitars. If ever there was a test this seemed
to be it to me. My academic career currently stands as having concluded with
this experience.
   You also ask if there's a living to be made. This is a tricky question with
any of the arts. If your aspiration is to be compensated then your focus
should be in that direction. If your aspiration is to WRITE, that should be
your focus. I think that art and commerce are a poor match. 
   Joseph Campbell tells an anecdote in an Open Life about the writer who
wishes to write potboilers until he is able to sustain his lifestyle as a
WRITER. The only problem is, by the time he is ready to put aside the
potboilers he has removed himself from the impetus to Write. This seems to be
a cautionary tale to us all, I think.
    I believe it was Hemmingway ( help me out here, Tim) in Moveable Feast,
who talks about Scott Fitzgerald's method of writing the best short stories he
could, then making the stories a little less good so he could sell them to the
slicks. This always gave me quite a chuckle. Papa gets even by claiming that
he had to solve poor Scott's sexual inadequacies. ( Is he even going so far as
to suggest that this is the cause of Zelda's unhinging?) 
    If you are going to write, write. All the things that JDS says about
hobbies and religion and occupations are running through my head at a million
miles an hour. I'm sure you are familiar so I won't try to sort them to end
with a knowing quote. Good luck. I'm enjoying this string of posts very much.
It's a nice way to start the week.
                                           Robert