Hello everyone On Sat, Jul 30, 2011 at 10:02 AM, david buchanan <[email protected]> wrote: > > Dan said to dmb: > I think that is so cool. Really. I am proud to know a guy like you, Dave. Not > that we really know each other, being as we never actually met... but I feel > we do know each other in a way. It is a wonderful experience to find one's > passion... that thing that makes life worth while... that thing that you'd > rather be doing than anything else. It is different for all of us. Some > people seem to find it in the regular work-a-day world but I've never been > that fortunate. > > dmb says: > Thanks, Dan. It's a very lucky thing and yet it seems like the path was > always right in front of me. Just didn't see it. I guess "philosopher" just > doesn't register as a realistic option if you're a working class boy from > Detroit. When it finally dawned on me, it was like the whole world went from > grainy black and white to supersaturated color. It was like coming out of a > gloomy, grey fog.
Dan: When it dawned on you that philosophy was indeed a viable option, did it feel as if you'd made a choice? Or did it feel like something you were meant to do? > > > > Dan said: > For me.. it is writing. Not just any writing... I write fictional stories. > And if someone takes them as real life... all the better. I've known my > passion for writing for a long time but life always seemed like it had a > habit of getting in the way. I've never gone to school to study writing but I > know what is good and what isn't. And slowly, over the years, I've learned > ways to write better. And now at this stage in my life, I've been able to > slim things down enough that I can work part time and devote most of my time > to reading and writing. Writers read, of course. And I find the more my > writing evolves, the more I read. And the more I read, the more I write. It > is all a cycle... > > > > dmb says: > > There is the view that the mind is like a muscle. It can be strengthened and > developed. And there is also the very plausible idea that genius is like > that, it is something that can be earned by putting in the time and effort. > Practice, practice, practice. They say it takes about ten thousand hours to > master just about anything. 40 x 50 is 2000 hours per year. If you can do it > full time, it takes at least five years. Dan: Yes, I have heard that too. I've also heard that it takes a writer about a million words before they find their own voice. And you know you've found your own voice if you wouldn't want your mother to read it. If that is true, then I've found it... dmb: I'd bet a gazillion bucks that its not just about putting the time in, otherwise anyone who's ever held a job would be some kind of master. No, I'll bet it's gotta be ten thousand good hours, each hour full of absorbed, focused time. You know, real un-coerced devotion. Dan: That is an excellent point. It isn't just the practice that makes a person a master at their craft... it is the devotion and love driving them, compelling them to be better and better and better... >dmb: > So, did you ever get to the point where you felt compelled to do something > big, like maybe a philosophical novel? Ever feel like you're working up to > something? Some vision you'd like to put out there? Dan: That's a really good question. I do have a vision, yes. It isn't something I would ever decide to do, mind you. I know better. I know I'm not qualified. I do feel compelled though. And yes, I am working up to it in a way though I am not exactly sure what "it" is at the moment. I feel whatever it is, it is drawing near, though. I was recently offered a job managing a small business. It would mean more money... a lot more money, actually. It would mean working 12 hour days six days a week though. And I have no illusions... that would be the end of my writing. I've been stuck in that situation before and I know there is no way that I could work that kind of schedule and still summon the drive to write. Twenty years ago I would have jumped at the chance. But I knew as soon as the job was proffered that I neither wanted it or needed it. Well, I could use the money, truth be told... but I know from experience that it wouldn't be enough, anyway. It never is. No matter how much money I've ever made, I always seem to need more. You jump on that merry-go-round and can never get off. So many times, people give up on their dreams without ever realizing how close they are to achieving them. Sometimes, you just gotta go for it... put your ears back and damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead... right? Thank you, Dan Moq_Discuss mailing list Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org Archives: http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ http://moq.org/md/archives.html
