I used to think that if you didn’t really try, whatever you achieved would be all the more impressive for the lack of effort invested in the achievement.
There is doing things, and then there is doing things with style.
To a certain extent I still feel that this should be the way I do everything.
Effortlessly brilliant.
Ah, the difference between reality and fantasy.
To a certain extent I can think this way. Sometimes I have a conversation about the innards of a colossal, intricate heap of probability and statistics for work, and realise that despite making points and arguing views, I’m not engaging the old forebrain. It’s not conscious effort...it’s just there.
It’s the difference between having an internal monologue at the same time as having a conversation, and really talking – when there is a full and frank exchange between people and their minds, without guard or barrier to filter things out.
Unfortunately, writing never works this way with me. It’s forebrain all the way. It’s hard, involved and emotionally draining, but it is the best thing I can do.
Annoyingly, it is when the structure and hard meaning of the words take a back seat to the flow and the rhythm, to the unwitting poetry inside the prose, that I produce the best stuff. I’m not in control of it, but the more I write, the more it happens.
Not trying is a hiding to nothing.
Sure, there is pleasure in leisure, but it is a static, unliving thrill. We all need to relax and chill out, but it is through creation and effort that we change things – ourselves and the world.
Doing something that you love helps.
Being stylish or leisurely all the time does absolutely nothing, unless you’re lucky enough to have other people who are prepared to pay you to be that way.
Horace’s most popular saying is: ‘Love conquers all’.
A less popular saying of his is: ‘Work conquers all’.
I guess both things can change your world.
I suppose, though, when giving your all to something, making as much of a change as you can with each fibre of your being, with love and work and everything you have, it would be a lot more fun to do it with style.
A big hi to everyone involved in National Novel Writing Month.
I’m cheering you on from the sidelines.
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