"And what the great American game of baseball seems to me to demonstrate most obviously is that those who 'have what it takes' must nevertheless work hard at their craft all the time and that many who might have been judged not to 'have what it takes,' through hard work at their craft, can also perform well. Recent years of World Series and league championship games have shown us great hitters and pitchers hitting and pitching badly while players we've never heard of perform beautifully. What veteran baseball players and writers know is that constantly working hard will produce a respectable batting or earned run average, a stack of pages of substantial literary value, an acceptance from a good journal.
"I am not describing a method of achieving happiness. I am describing what seems to me a necessary and healthy way for a few people to carry out their lives; happiness has nothing to do with it. What seems to me the only legitimate goal of any would-be writer is to achieve a circumstance of ongoing work, the serenity to carry out the daily writing and revising of what poems, stories, or novels are given one to write. On those rare occasions when one's serenity seems about to collapse, I recommend that one step out into one's back yard and vigorously spit."
--from "Let's Say You Wrote Badly This Morning" by David Huddle
I don't much care for baseball. I don't know what a batting or earned run average is. I don't really care to know. But Huddle compares athletes and writers here, in this piece anthologized in The Bread Loaf Anthology of Contemporary American Essays. It's the having what it takes--the making yourself work to have it. I'm still struggling.
At this point there's a three-way tension. Teach well--write a kick-ass thesis/book--get thyself prepared to get a job (as in a career) next summer. I can't let the teaching down, and I have to figure out what I'm going to do with my 2010 self. I want to write, to shut it all out and write. How do you write in the moment? Live in the moment?
Here's my working list of goals for my work, in content, language, and totality:
Metaphor
Zest
Contradiction
Philosophy
More explanation to come.
"It's the having what it takes--the making yourself work to have it. I'm still struggling. " I admire your focus and attitude,Kari.You can do it! Live in the moment by finding spaciousness there instead of the linear expanse of future time?
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