"An Unpublished Life is Not Worth Living" is One Year Old

BLOG N. "Short for weblog. A meandering, blatantly uninteresting online diary that gives the author the illusion that people are interested in their stupid, pathetic life. Consists of such riveting entries as 'homework sucks' and 'I slept until noon today.'"

From "The Urban Dictionary"

I started out my career writing...commercials, mostly. But after five years of facing the white hole of a blank sheet of paper, I stopped, and focussed on production, instead. I loved working in the studio. But every so often, someone would give me an opportunity to write, and I'd jump at it. I'd jump at it...and delay it for as long as possible. Put it off. Procrastinate. Eventually, I'd write, but usually at the last minute. I always felt I had to wait for that great idea to come along. I'd wait for inspiration and give it all the time I could. But inspiration doesn't just show up. You have to make it.

Harlan Ellison, that old curmudgeonly gadfly*, wrote "If you are going to write, nothing in the world will keep you from writing." His point being that writers...REAL WRITERS...have a need to write. Nothing will stop them. No paper? Jack Kerouac wrote "On the Road" on a roll of teletype paper. No typewriter? Here, have a pencil (the eraser lets you edit easier). There are no obstacles for a person who wants to write. Ink runs through their veins. There is an imperative to express themselves. I believed that fervently. I also believed I didn't have that innate need. Nor did I feel that I had anything important to say, particularly.

So I didn't write. And if you don't...you must not want to.

But you live for fifty years, and you realize that not everybody sees things the way that you do. Some folks haven't experienced what you have. After half a lifetime, even the dullest person has amassed a few good stories. And any good story is worth sharing. They don't have to be about you. They just have to be about something. Something different. Or something familiar. They don't have to be IMPORTANT. They don't have to BE anything at all...except entertaining.
And when you get to that point, everything is fair game.

In the year I've spent writing this blog, I've gotten down a bunch of things that I NEEDED to say. I've gotten back to doing something I haven't done since college, which is critical analysis of movies. I've taken ten movies that are essential favorites of mine, and talked about why they're important to me. I've done essays about the people who have influenced me professionally. I've talked about unique experiences and friends. I've done some experimentation with collaborative writing, because I don't always trust my version of things, and I found I was right to do so.

I heard an expression the other day which I found interesting—there’s a saying in Texas “If you can’t improve on the story, you have no business telling it!” This may explain what’s SO wrong with the Bush administration. It’s always tempting to make a story more than it actually is, and I think I’ve been pretty scrupulous in getting details right, but if I’ve gotten something wrong or left someone out, I apologize.

The other thing is sometimes I’ll commit a sin of omission just because its private, I don’t want to hurt people or intrude on their privacy or it’s none of the world’s business. I’m perfectly happy to broadcast the details of my life (but I’m choosey about what I put out there), but for everyone else I feel I have a responsibility to protect the privacy of others. So there’s lots I could say, but I choose not to.

What's been the most looked at posts? Easy. There are two, both comics-related. These have generated the most hits.

http://yojimbo5.blogspot.com/2006/12/best-dc-comics-cover.html

http://yojimbo5.blogspot.com/2007/05/movie-review-spiderman-3.html

The most comments? Well, nothing got more than one or two, and the rest of my comments are taken over by my replies to them, so they hardly count--but while I'm on the subject--I've only rejected a couple of comments: one was on my "Pearl Harbor" piece that seemed like more of promo for this guy's web-site, called--"Conserva-babes," (and I, frankly, didn't want to go there) and the other promoting a Judy Garland chat-site--I mentioned her in passing in the "Spiderman 3" review, but you can't discourage those Judy fans.

The longest anyone has been on the blog? Again, easy--that would be my former wife, Sandra, who spent over two hours reading my blog one day.

What do I like that I wrote? "Letting Go" always gets a response and it was the piece where it came out in a flood--I wrote the thing, complete, in one hour--one sitting, for a friend's "lessons learned" class. It got such a response that its going to be turned into a podcast later this year...I'll let you know when it happens.

I really like the "Personal Heroes" Essays because they're all so different and are a hodge-podge of sources, but my favorite thing of all of them is the Poem I wrote about Chuck Jones.

Acme Poem Company

Nature’s Cruel. Chuck Jones is crueler.

Time stops for the revelatory pause.

The realization, the brief reaction

Hesitations of inviolable laws

The cosmic clockwork has seized its gears

to present your moment of doom.

Then, once you’ve noticed, it’s on with the show.

Now, wait for it………………
...................................boom!

I also like the essay on "Citizen Kane" mostly because I was scared to write it--it's a daunting film in reputation and reality and it's nearly been talked about to death--but when I decided to take it on earlier than some of the other choices, I found writing about it easy--its another of those things that just came out in one writing session sitting out in the sun on my deck--and more importantly, I thought I said some very pertinent things, things that hadn't been referenced time and time again. I'm proud of that.

So that's all new stuff, but the whole purpose of this blog has been to clear out the cob-webs, and set down into as cogent a form as possible ideas that have been rattling around in my head for years. This allows me to set them down, and then consign them to the archival section of my mind, where they can just be forgotten to make way for new collections and recollections. I've found that very useful. And if anything I've set down has amused, moved and nudged you into a different perspective, then that's reward enough. The correspondence that has resulted has been gravy, but cherished. Thanks for joining me on this little journey. I have no idea where it will lead.

And, no, I'm not going to change the background color.

So, it's the one year Anniversary of "An Unpublished Life Is Not Worth Living." **

And I'll repeat what I wrote one year ago.

When the time comes to comment, I'll comment.

When a story just must be told, I'll tell it.

When I've got something to say, I'll say it.

When the fancy strikes me..... Well, that'll probably hurt.

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*When I was working at KIRO radio, Ellison was coming in for an interview with a colleague, Don, who was going to be on the air on a Saturday. Folks knew I liked science fiction (Ellison was coming to the annual science fiction convention at the Seattle Center), so he asked me what he should ask. I told him about Ellison--his history, his most famous works, his reputation for being an asshole. I warned him that Ellison could be prickly, and that he should just roll with him and he'd get a fantastic interview, but it was going to be a mine-field so tread softly. Don was a really nice guy and very good on the air. And he could bring out the best in his interviews with enthusiasm and encouragement. Ellison showed up for the interview in an effusive mood. "I killed their asses!" he said about his convention appearance. Don went over how it was going to go, and Ellison siad, "Okay, but do me one favor, don't call me a science fiction author!" Okay, said Don. Will do. They came out of the break, and Don started introducing him, being very complimentary. Then he said, "...and though he doesn't want to be called a science fiction author....." CRASH! Ellison hit the exit door and was GONE. Walked out. Don was left with his mouth open and no guest. He went to a break, and continued on without him, explaining that Ellison was called away. Harlan Ellison in a hardened nut-shell.

**That would be the Paper Anniversary, ironically.