Know Jack #211 Above All

 

“Write Honestly. Write Fearlessly. Write True. But above all…Write.

The Writing Manifesto

In a very real sense, like Hamlet, we are given to ponder each day the question of the continued wisdom of being or not. Should we decide in favor of life, what kind of life? And at what price?

The question might be easier to answer if we could truly compartmentalize life and cut away the diseased parts. I here there are those capable of doing this…I am not one of them. This strikes me as strange for one given to abstract ideas as I am.

The good in my past is inexorably linked to the bad in a single whole so that it is impossible to “just remember the good times.” Perhaps this is the part of me people think holds a grudge forever. It certainly is the part of me that colors every story I have to tell.  

I am a good writer. On occasion, I can take you where I go and let you see what I see in that maze that is in my head. As a good writer, I write what I honestly feel. No wonder my characters are confused.

I would like to say I write fearlessly, but that’s not true. I am mindful of my readers, their opinions, and expectations when it comes to reading my work. It is never easy to think you might offend the ones you love. Mind you, I write what I feel anyway.  

Writing true is only tangentially the same as writing the truth. I deal in lies fabricated in an overactive imagination and told to myself and my readers by a fickle muse. I can attest to the fact that the voices in my head do come up with some good ideas now and then.

So, I write. Writing is my life, and in various ways, it always has been.  So, I try to live by the same credo. I strive for honesty, fearlessness, and truth in life, but above all is to live. If I please no one else, I hope when all is said and done to have pleased both my self and God. I am certain this is done solely by the simple act of living every day.

Daily I grow more convinced that I know nothing of life, except that it is meant for living. We pass this way but once… live the life you love and you will have the best stories to tell.

Maranatha