A Writer's Resolve
244 Words
“Up in that room I decided that I would write one story about each thing that I knew about. I was trying to do this all the time I was writing, and it was good and severe discipline.” – Earnest Hemingway
If you’ll remember, I quoted Hemingway in my first post. I have personal attachment to Hemingway. In his older years, he looked exactly like my uncle on my mother’s side. Uncle Cletus. Don’t laugh at the name. Cletus held over 30 patents and you use many of them every single day of your life.
Hemingway was an intriguing figure. I’ve been to his place and the restaurant in Key West he frequented. I felt as though I made some sort of ethereal connection with him down there. Of course, I know and you know I did not.
“In order to write about life first you must live it.” – E. Hemingway
These two quotes boggle my mind, yet they are very simplistic and real. They speak to a temptation that all writers have to resist: writing about thing of which you know nothing.
He said he decided he’d write one story about “each thing” he knew. Good heavens. Think about it. He’s not talking about little minute details he knows or anything like that. He’s talking about bigger concepts, but still, what a resolve.
I’ve thought about writing nearly my whole life. I’ve always been enamored with writers, authors, and the like. But I know nothing of that guild.