Gratitude

Maybe this is a post better suited for my little brother blog, y'know, the one about 5 things to be grateful for today - I dunno. Before I actually started this blog, there was another one that didn't get off to a good start really. I didn't really know why I was doing it, so I stopped it.

The more I thought about things when I launched this one, the more I realized that this blog had one main purpose - to get and keep me writing. Never mind the content, at least for the moment, and consider the fact that I've pretty much always written, and I can write. How well? Meh, that's probably not for me to say. Better than some, worse than others. Perhaps not as well as I'd like to, or need to - but I like to write. Sometimes I bore the living crap outta myself with things I write, sometimes I like what I write - sometimes even quite a bit. There are times when good ideas go nowhere - and fast. There are times when ideas come out of nowhere and seem to take on a life of their own and turn into something that I like, and that others like too.

There are two opposite ends of a spectrum here that I'm grateful for - and both ends were unexpected. On one end is a friend who I would've thought, after a few years of friendship, knows me well enough to get me - and how my dry, sarcastic and smart-ass mind works. On the other end is a friend who doesn't know me all that well, certainly not in terms of time. My point here is not to ramble and compare one over the other, but rather to notice/appreciate that inspiration and the meaningful lessons that can come from it, often come from people and places we don't expect them.

So, I have this friend who along with being a coworker, is also a writer. I'm old enough to be this friend's dad - just saying, there's a gap here people. The inspiration I get from this particular friend is that it's important to be brave, just do it, put yourself out there, don't hide, and for the love of God, don't worry about things like whether or not someone else likes it, is it good, is it bad, etc, etc...don't talk yourself out of it for fear of failure or anyone else not liking it.

That notion of being brave is important to have in damn near anything - but it's particularly important to have in any art form. There is something wonderful in the doing, the very experience of that - the doing. Without the doing, there is only the longing to do, and the wondering of what could come of it. Nothing will come of it if you don't try - nothing but regret. We find our way by doing, and to let any critic stop us and make us head in the opposite direction is not something I want to play a part in.

The more thought I give to critics, the more I tend to wonder what would come of any of them spending the same amount of time they spend ripping things to pieces, talking about something they like. In the post I wrote yesterday, I talked about something I didn't like - but what I did like about the whole experience, was the ability to see how something that was created to be easier and more efficient, is often quite the opposite. I'm here in this particular arena to practice something I know how to do reasonably well. Believe me, there are turds that go up here that even I recognize as such, but my goal here is the same: To get me writing, and to keep me writing. So to my friend, and now former coworker - thank you - for the laughs at work, for the stories, and most of all for showing me that it's important to be brave and just do the things one wants to do.

There's a Sean Penn quote from a Rolling Stone interview that I love:  Fail all you want - but fucking try.

Maybe I've failed a lot here on these pages, but I try. And on my worst days - which this is not one of, I have not failed in doing what I set out to do with this blog - write. I know why some people like this blog, because they tell me. I know why some people don't - because they also tell me. Why they keep reading when they expect not to like what they read...that may always be a mystery. Thanks Emelie - and good luck in your move, which is very brave. Peace out, good people, I got shit to do.