Yes, that disembodied arm is actually attached to my very body
Closing the Court on a Writer's Past
We’ll get to the hoop in a minute, but first I want to quote something from the great Brainpickings newsletter (one I highly recommend for its dance of art and science, and its expansive progressive views):
A man is not his hope, nor his despair, nor yet his past deed. We know not yet what we have done, still less what we are doing. Wait till evening, and other parts of our day’s work will shine than we had thought at noon, and we shall discover the real purport of our toil. As when the farmer has reached the end of the furrow and looks back, he can tell best where the pressed earth shines most.
That is Thoreau waxing on how the process and implications of great social (and personal) change aren’t clear to the person in the midst of the change, perhaps even when that person is implementing the changes. We see events—and our part in those events—through a glass darkly as they occur, and it’s often only years later that we can interpret what happened with any semblance of reason and surety.
Autobiographical Cramps
And being the self-fascinated mule that I am, I’ll turn from that macro sense of social change to my micro of personal: I self-published my first novel, All Roads Are Circles in 2011, which was years after I’d written it. Having spent many of my days reading Woolf, Twain, Dostoyevsky, Steinbeck and other luminaries, I knew that my bit of scribble wasn’t a literary lantern. But I still thought it was an entertaining lark.
I think that yet, but in rereading passages now, I also see that the work shows the cramp of autobiography too clearly, and my tendency to flesh out paragraphs where simple bone would do. But at the time, like Thoreau’s man above, it was the best farming I had in me. I’ve made the ebook free on Amazon and other online outlets.
You might enjoy the read and perhaps feel impelled to check out my later works—my newest, set in Prohibition-era Boston, doesn’t rely so much on my personal eccentricities for the pressing of its earth.
To Come: More Hoops to Jump Through
The basketball hoop does actually relate to the discussion above, so forgive me for dribbling about to get to the point. I’ve played a great deal of pickup basketball over long years, and while competent, never had the athletic ability (and intense motivation) to truly push my skills. I was able to play a decent game, and mildly burnish some abilities. I was OK at novel writing and OK at basketball.
But I’m going to offer the hoop to some kids in the neighborhood, because the basketball-related knee and hip surgeries I’ve had have finally caught up to me—the crab-walking greying gent that I am isn’t going to scamper over any courts. To paraphrase Chief Joseph: I will jump-shoot no more forever. That loss does give me a pang, but to sprinkle in some Vonnegut, so it goes.
Arthritis can get in your writing too, but there’s a way to stay flexible: write more. I haven’t settled on a subject for my novel-to-come yet, but there are things bubbling. I know there are other written works in me. I think many of us are like Thoreau’s folks who don’t quite know what they are doing until it’s long done. But I’d rather look forward than back, at the words to come.
Though if I do put a basketball player in any of my novels, it’s likely I’ll have him or her be able to jump over the moon and dunk with their feet. Fiction writing can be a form of self-fulfillment on many levels. Indulge yourself, but not enough to give yourself or your readers a bellyache.
Latest Curated Links
The most recent articles that have intrigued, inspired, puzzled or provoked. Followed by some of my own.
What is Your “Average Speed” in Your Life, Your Health, and Your Work?
A clear and compelling example of how the tortoise really does win the race. “Here’s the surprising thing about average speed: It doesn’t take very long for average speed to produce incredible results.”
The Compelling Case for Working a Lot Less
The “sweetness of doing nothing” and its tangible benefits.“Work on one thing at a time until finished,” wrote artist and writer Henry Miller in his 11 commandments on writing. “Stop at the appointed time!... Keep human! See people, go places, drink if you feel like it.”
This Is The Most Powerful Way To Make Your Life Fantastic
Technology is great. Until it isn’t. “The real problem is “reverse FOMO”. You’re not missing out on anything online. But by always being online you’re missing out on life.”
Just Run | Derek Sivers on Successful Simplicity
Two-minute video on how we make simple things complicated, and how we don’t have to.
Don’t have 10,000 hours to learn something new? That’s fine — all you need is 20 hours
Quick guide to learning a new skill without serious stressing. “Let’s say you want to bake your own bread. It’s a multi-step process that includes making dough, letting it rise, punching it down, shaping it into a loaf, and baking it in the oven. You’ll start by identifying the different tools and skills behind each step.”
6 Simple Ways You Can Use Neuroscience To Improve Your Day
“Willpower and self-control is at its peak first thing in the morning, so this is the best time to make yourself take on the hardest tasks of the day. When you write your list, make certain that the toughest projects are the first ones you tackle.”
6 Steps to Turn Regret into Self-Improvement
“… researchers also found that when people find a silver lining in their regret, they are able to think more clearly. “Regret can be a problem, but one benefit of regret is that it signals improvement is possible,” said Neal Roese, a professor of marketing at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University who focuses on the psychology of judgment and decision-making. “The trick is to avoid obsessing and pull out a lesson that can be applied in future situations.”
Tom's Tales
Editors, schmeditors, eh? Not quite. You might be OK with getting a one-off publication in print or online, and abandon that publication’s editor forever, but your writing and your relationships (and wallet) are better served by getting to know your editor, and them getting to know you. Published in February 2019 on Funds for Writers, Hope Clark’s great info resource for both fiction and nonfiction writers.
A pen that writes upside down, underwater, in extreme heat and cold? And that’s not the best of it: it writes in outer space too! A fun piece on the Fisher Space Pen, which celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2018. Best of all, WIRED used a photo of my own Space Pen in the article. The gravity of that struck me. Published in February 2019 in Wired UK.
An oh-so-British Airstream, decked out in the same tweeds worn by Gregory Peck and other luminaries. The rig includes historical Savile Row tailors on the move. Published in the Winter 2018 edition of Airstream Life magazine. (c) 2019 Airstream Life, published with permission.
