I read two great books this weekend. (It was raining, and I'm not much for college football.) First, Don't You Forget About Me, a first novel by Jancee Dunn. If any part of your adolescence coincided with the bizarre decade that was the 1980s, you will love this book. My favorite thing about Jancee's writing is that she doesn't just talk about all the funny fashion and music choices we made back then, she captures the feelings in a way that is spot-on. Reading this story was like being transported back to my own high school experience, and then snapping back to the present quickly enough to appreciate that while that was a wild ride, it's not something I'd ever want to go through again!
The second was the final Harry Potter book. This series might be the best take on the supernatural battle between good and evil I've seen in recent fiction, and book #7 is the most intense. I won't give anything away, except to say this: It's possible (even preferable) to get through the entire book without giving a whit about Dumbledore's romantic preferences.
I've been thinking a lot about writing lately, specifically the question of what keeps us motivated. I look at authors with two, three (seven, twelve...) books on the shelf and wonder, what does it take to sustain that kind of inspiration/persperation over the long haul? So I emailed some of them, and I'll be sharing their thoughts here this week.
But I'd love your thoughts, too, because we're all so different.
So if you're inclined, tell me:
What was something you did recently that was really hard that you didn't HAVE to do?
What kept you going?
Was it worth it?
6 comments:
I think something I did recently that I soo did not want to do was support my hubby even after he had quit his job. I didn't have to, I could have been mean and spiteful, but instead I helped him with his apps and just all around made him feel good. Today he started a new job with better benefits so yup, it was worth not getting mad over.
mine would be the 40 days of faith you did this summer. i loved participating, but some days it was challenging to make praying and studying a priority. God spoke to me a lot during that time, and i am so thankful i completed that segment of my spiritual journey; God is whispering to me even now, because of the time I spent with Him. Thank you for allowing Him to work through you!
I think I run toward "hard things" and then when I am smack dab in the middle of them I wonder how I got there. But I think the last hard thing I did was move in with my godmother 9 months after my godfather died. She moved to a new city by herself and I didn't want her to be alone. Now she's moving back to where she came from and I'm stuck with no place to live because I changed jobs. At this point, although I love her deeply, I do not think it was worth it. I think it made my life way harder that it needed to be, and the truth was she really didn't need me as bad as I once thought. Hmmm...maybe I need to stop trying to rescue people from the loneliness and pain that is inevitable in life...
in full agreement of dumbledore's romantic interests bit. although i'm a bit disenchanted with book 7 as a whole. i know. i'm in the minority! :)
So, I had a whole email typed out to you about the hard thing that you didn't have to do but did. And I thought I had sent it the other night. I just checked my sent messages and it's no where to be found. It was a long one too! I will have to try and remember what was in it...it was worth the effort. :)
Ok, I LOVE the fact that you used the word whit in your blog. $7 for you, girl!
And in all honesty, I haven't done anything really hard lately that wasn't absolutely necessary. I'm really tired of it. Tired of HAVING to do all sorts of crap just to survive. I would love to just CHOOSE to do something difficult. Or easy for that matter.
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