You know in a way it's been hard for me to find inspiration to write. Some say wait for the moment and when it comes, pour your soul out. Others say that you should always write. At least when you are writing, you have things to fall back on. To correct. To make better.
I...I find myself somewhere in the middle. A limbo of both views. It wasn't until recently, when one of my oldest friends, after a span of fives years of not talking with each other found ourselves on the same path again. And it wasn't that we got in a fight, or that we stopped finding things in common to talk about, it was just one of those instances where we both walked in complete opposite directions. Many years of us just doing our own thing.
And then out of nowhere, Dave's sister missed her flight from San Diego to Kalamazoo and ended up in my backyard called Las Vegas. From there I had his number and swore to call him that week and three months later, I did. And with that phone call, I found something clicking in my brain again.
With anything, a strong foundation is what will make or break whatever you are building. In my case, I only had part of my foundation built, that being my friend Nate. Through thick and thin, through good times and bullshit, Nate and myself have always been there for each other, whether we liked it or not. A bond of brothers. But as I started to build, it seemed that my building always leaned to the left. It wasn't quite centered. This of course was always something that ate at me.
Others always considered myself as a writer but I wasn't buying into the hype. I had always thought that it was something I was decent at. Putting letters to form words. Putting words to form sentences. Putting sentences together to form paragraphs. Until eventually I had a story.
It wasn't until I started talking to Dave that we came to the subject of they type of writers we were many years ago. He gave me a compliment saying that I still had the same voice and that he seemed to have lost his. That he didn't write as good as he once did, but this where he was wrong. In those sentences he wrote to me, I saw the Dave that I grew up. The Dave that pushed me to be a good writer. That gave me back something that I had been missing. And with our friendship, along with Nate, I find myself builing to the heaven's above. Beyond the sun, to places that have yet to be discovered. And I will keep on building and building and building until my hands start to bleed because I know I have the friends to pick me up and put that pen back into my hand.
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7 comments:
The feeling is mutual old buddy.
I remember the "a writer writes" lessons, and have always believed them, but it seems that for about five years I've been waiting for the moment to come. Reconnecting with you has forced me to consider how my writing has developed since the times when we traded stories and poems.
If I know one thing Dan, it's that you are a writer encompasing the creativity and imagination that profession requires. It bleeds from you and infects those that keep your company.
It's good to have my foundation back too.
P.S.
Thanks for the Handjob.
I feel as though i have stubbled apon two friends personal writings. that i am on the outside looking in on two friends conversation, and they don't know, or don't care that i am listening. that was pleasure to read Dan and Dave. thank you for not being afraid to be open. i have similar friends that I have not talked to for years, I have similar stories i have stopped writing, songs left undone, thoughts left wondering, writings left with no conclusion. You guys have made me realize i too have neglected my better half of creativity. thank you
Quentin
dan, you never did say what you and Kelly did when she was "stuck" in Las Vegas....mmmmmmm
Q,
It wasn't Kelly, it was Nicole and you'll see what Nicole and I were up to in...well she was here in Decemeber so I'd say another five months.
Good post, buddy. It's good to reconnect with old friends.
As for the debate between writing only when inspired and writing by force, I used wait for inspiration to strike, but that was taking forever. The inspirational moments don't come often enough, and they are usually ideas about other things to write about instead of ideas that can help me finish my current project.
Then I watched COMEDIAN, Jerry Seinfeld's documentary about stand-up. (I highly recommend it if you haven't seen it.) In it he tells a story about how in his early days he used to write maybe a couple days a week. But one day he was walking down the street and saw some construction workers on their way to work, and it hit him: they don't want to be going to work, but they're going. That's their job. So Jerry started to treat stand-up as a regular job where even if he didn't feel like writing, he'd do it anyway.
I also read something about Robert Rodriguez (I don't remember where), and that when he's inspired by an idea, he doesn't let it pass him by. He will sit and work out the story until he finishes it. That's how he writes his stories so quickly.
I guess the point is that creative people aren't only creative when they feel inspired. They're creative all the time. Whether you work at your idea or wait for it to come to you, you will eventually get it written. It's just that one way gets you there much faster.
And so that comment came full circle.
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