"... On Mar 29, 5:08 am, archytas wrote: ..."

> Wrinkled indeed Gruff.  My grandson is currently going through the
> 'rock guitar phase' and one gets caught between needing to show how
> difficult playing is without putting him off trying and leaving him
> with dreams of being the next Clapton and providing a soft landing.

I'm not sure soft landings and fairness are part of or necessary for a
good life.  I'm thinking that the lessons that sunk in and held were
the ones that landed hard and were unfair.   Besides, what youngster
has ever listened to sage advice from someone who, in their eyes, is
older than god.  And to top that off, youngsters often manage to see
right through elders' advice in that where they don't practice it
themselves, or at least consider it hypocritical.   They have yet to
understand the principle of do as I say but don't do as I have done,
not realizing the potential value of advice carved out of hard
granite.

> I currently want to be a novelist and am not really in a different
> boat.

Agreed.  I'm experiencing something similar.  I've written plenty of
non-fiction in my life, most of it rather boring, but now I'm trying
to write my life and it's not like being born again but rather being a
floundering infant again.   As in fiction, the important aspect of any
story is character development, and I'm not sure I'm developing mine
even if it is my own.

> I have a mate who writes puff pieces on celebrities for a
> living - not my bag - the small world of the academic circuit used to
> be my way of making a living.  I just really don't want to work for
> anyone else or contribute any more to the mad bureaucracy.

I don't think there is much any of us can do that is NOT working for
someone else and contributing to some degree to the madness of which
you speak.   But that doesn't make the effort worthless nor even
contributorily negligent.  I think the best one can do is try to make
and convey a little sense out of it all which might help us and one or
two others with some bean soup, calm bread and a few small luxuries
(WCW).   How appropriate FDR's words about fear and to convey some
part of the underlying meaning would be of great value.


--~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups 
""Minds Eye"" group.
To post to this group, send email to [email protected]
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to 
[email protected]
For more options, visit this group at 
http://groups.google.com/group/Minds-Eye?hl=en
-~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---

Reply via email to