Love having written

I was reading more from my latest link under DIVERSIONS, "You are not so smart" - an interesting blog. It ties in with a movie I just watched called "Dreams with Sharp Teeth", which is a documentary on the life of Harlan Ellison (he has authored a lot of books and stuff). I really liked the movie - very inspirational. Sure, he likes to sue people and seems like he can be kind of abrasive, but he seemed like a good guy to know. Maybe some day...

There was a lot of interesting insights in the movie, but one of the key insights that stuck with me was him talking about other writers. Well, people he didn't think too highly of as being writers. He said he hears this all of the time, "I like having written, but I hate writing." He said that kind of person isn't a writer, he is a hack. Harlan loves to write as well as having written. He said something about a true writer, if had his hands and feet tied behind his back, would be tapping out words on his typewriter with his forehead. I think a typewriter is a type of word processor for really slow computers.

It is that dedication to writing that seems to fit into the sentence I hear from self-help (really, self-help from others...) people: "Do what you love and the money will follow." It always seemed like a platitude. After seeing the movie, I could see that here was a person who loved what he did and seemed to be enjoying success. Maybe there was some truth to this? But what was that truth...

I was still mulling this over in my mind, trying to see how it all fit in with what I know of this World, when I stumbled upon "You are not so smart." There was a blog post about the two people inside of everyone - just like this "move" I was watching the other day. This all came together for me. You can read his blog post about it for clarification of his idea, but this is my post about how it all ties together.

One of you thinks only of the now. The other you always thinks of the past. We all try to balance this fun-loving, live-the-now you and the you that wants to have memories to reflect on. The author claims this is a challenge, which seems true. But then Harlan Ellison comes to mind and his quote. The best way to balance the two yous is to love what you do and do what you love. :)

Build memories (people who like having written) and enjoy the now (people who love to write). Resolve the conflict to a better life! If the now-you likes something that the past-you will like to reflect on in the future, you have a winner!

The Edward