Should I Stay or Want to Go?

My mom was raised Catholic and my dad is Jewish so I’m entitled to a healthy dose of guilt. It can be useful, though, I’ve found. Guilt can be a catalyst for action. The current cause of my guilt is not replying to Steve Knezovich’s post from June 2, 2010 in which he asked, “I think all of us have writers who inspire us, but how many writers actually ask you to come out and play?” I’ve wanted to reply to Knezovich’s appeal for over a month now and I’m finally getting to it. The delay is not due to procrastination but to lack of information. I spend so much of my time doing what I should that I sometimes forget that I can read and write out of want. Should sure can govern most of our lives if we let it.   

I see now that in his posting the following week, “Invitation vs. Inspiration,” several people answered the question Steve posed (now I feel guilty that I didn’t read that post sooner). Some people have writers they turn to for inspiration, writers who seem to invite them to write, who ask them to come out to play. It just took me a while to think of any writers who do these things for me. The reason for this? I think I’ve had a bad attitude. I’ve been so caught in obligation that I can be reading the most exciting, inspiring, inviting thing ever and feeling like I need to find the use in it.    

This weekend I enjoyed reading Rare and Endangered Species, by Richard Bausch in which we get to see the inner feelings and mental workings of everyday people. Bausch tells us very little about his characters’ thoughts; most of his storytelling is done through action, description, and dialogue. I love how drawn in I become as I try to figure out the relationships and scenarios.    

I got the book at the library because a friend suggested I acquaint myself with Bausch’s work, but I actually read it because I wanted to, because it started like this: Read more »