Thurday, November 20, 2003

DEAR ERNEST

The writing ritual has not been as easy as usual for me of late. I find myself trying to find something interesting or clever to say. That can’t be my way. I guess I need lots of action in order to get juiced about writing my reactions to the action. The thing is that I really have come to enjoy and look forward to this whole writing thing. I just need a little inspiration to push the pen.

I was thinking about how much I admire someone like Ernest Hemmingway, and the way he went out and lived an "extreme" life way before extreme was a lifestyle. Then, using what he saw and experienced, he would go home and write an even better story as a novelist. He was a true writer (no computers), an artist who used eloquence in much the same way that a Van Gogh would use his brush to paint a scene both brilliant and unique.

Ernest Hemmingway found adventurous ways to live his life, and apparently he knew when the time came to check out of it as well, because he created that moment for himself, too. So, he did have some issues. Or maybe he didn’t have any at all.

A MAN'S GOT TO KNOW HIS LIMITATIONS - Dirty Harry Callahan

I am a watcher more than I am a dreamer. I don’t create scenarios in my head, I set goals that I think will take me somewhere nearer to wherever it is that I want to go. I don’t feel that I could ever make up a story more compelling than the melodrama contained inside "reality". A man’s got to know his limitations. In terms of writing, I craft from the materials (life experience) available to me. If I was trying to make it up or write a novel, I would struggle, and page one would probably never get done.

If I am close to being similar to someone named Ernest, I fear that I am more like that other famous Ernest……… Know what I mean, Vern?

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