In a letter to Hume Logan, Hunter S. Thompson wrote:
Let’s assume that you think you have a choice of eight paths to follow (all pre-defined paths, of course). And let’s assume that you can’t see any real purpose in any of the eight. THEN — and here is the essence of all I’ve said — you MUST FIND A NINTH PATH.
In a letter to Grace Norton, Henry James wrote:
— remember that every life is a special problem which is not yours but another’s, and content yourself with the terrible algebra of your own.
Rainer Maria Rilke wrote to Franz Xaver Kappus:
And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without even noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer.
And it has become clear to me, slow as the progress might be, my path is one of person to person connection.
Now you might be wondering… What on earth is she playing at this morning?
Urania has her hands on her hips.
Thalia has gone outside to play in the snow.
Calliope is sitting next to me whispering… Keep going.
I reference the words of others above because I recognize I’ve no “marketing plan” for my books other than saying, “Here… I made this,” just as I’ve been doing all along with my newsletters.
The 9th path?
Someone once told me that my path will only lead to being ignored.
Perhaps.
Or maybe, all of the connection and collaboration I’ve been building will live along some distant day into the answer.
Hope is the thing with wings?
Here… I made these. :)
Yahoo!!!
Kindle and paperback versions of Flourishing Fictions are now available.
Hardcover sometime in the next 72 hours. See photo at the top of this letter? Turtle.
Connection....
This is a delightful compendium of wisdom! “The terrible algebra that is your life” is a wonderful characterization. I was a fan of algebra in high school, but calculus and differential equations more than tested my mettle later in college.
Paths and being known or remembered?
A friend once asked, before I became a father, how many children I hoped to father. I replied, “None.” Aghast at my reply, he stated that I should feel compelled to contribute to the gene pool. He had 6 offspring at that time.
In those same times, I told folks that when my time on earth ended, I wished my passing was as if I had never been here. Then Jay Armstrong writes that his recent book will make him immortal.
Different aspirations dictate different courses of action. What is the life span of our connections? Do they persist in sub-atomic particles? Throughout eternity?
Oops! A bit off topic…. Good writing just the same, Gail.