I’m in the race. The everyday race. I run to create the things I imagine. To finish them. It never works, there’s always one more to write. Then it’s time for the road again.
This has an effect. I stretch out stays at houses, apartments, homes of friends. I think there, in a haven, I’ll finally catch up. I fail. Always one more.
Why is this? In large part, my writing is a chronicle of my life. To record one’s life is a mathematic impossibility.
Filtering helps. Not every event is worth keeping. Not every thought is a conversation. But that’s the part I’m good at.
What else can I do? How can I write about my adventures, without hitting pause on living them? Well, a change in style might help.
I need to get out of the haven and move. And I want to tell the story. So I have to tell it fast. Quick, sharp, straight: a stiletto.
I have to out-Hemingway Ernest.
Drew Jacob, Rogue Priest
August 26th, 2012 at 8:43 am
If anyone can… :)
August 26th, 2012 at 10:17 am
Thanks, Sophia.
August 26th, 2012 at 8:47 am
You might also just want to get heading south faster. You’re still in Wisconsin, right? Like in the Martin books, winter is coming.
(Here in Moscow it already feels like mid-fall.)
August 26th, 2012 at 10:16 am
Haha. I have been thinking this too. It feels slow because I’ve spent so much time visiting with folks.
But I’m on schedule. My goal is to make New Orleans by Oct. 17 and even at a (very slow) pace of 30 miles/day, I’m ahead of that.
August 26th, 2012 at 9:51 am
You can; now find the how. :)
August 26th, 2012 at 10:17 am
Challenge accepted…
August 26th, 2012 at 10:31 am
Here’s an idea, not 100% sure of the technical side of it but… I know you’ve got an iphone. Get a collar clip microphone and dictate what your’e planning on writing into it while you ride (should minimize wind interference). Run it through a speech to text program, edit out 3/4ths of your thoughts, and pull the rest together into a blog post.
August 26th, 2012 at 2:44 pm
I would love to do this. Can you recommend a speech to text program? I’ve heard that many of them are, well, not good.
August 26th, 2012 at 3:26 pm
No, sorry, I haven’t actually tried something like this myself beyond recording to my Android tablet. I don’t have any Mac stuff and am not familiar with their apps, but it looks like Dragon Dictation has one and they’ve been doing speech recognition since at least the mid 90s. Anyway, if you’re basically using it for rough drafts, it wouldn’t need to be perfect. And if it runs on your phone, you don’t need any new equipment.
August 26th, 2012 at 4:42 pm
I like this plan. Thanks, Kira.
August 26th, 2012 at 11:27 am
One thing you might want to consider doing is actually not writing it. Get a cheap recorder you can hook up to a laptop to download the recording (most mp3s these days have such a function). As you see/think of something, record it. Then when you have a chance, upload the audio file, clip them all together, and do it as a pod cast. Then you don’t have to sit and write. :)
August 26th, 2012 at 2:45 pm
Ha, you and Kira are on it today. I might try this. I’ve thought of it before and been put off by adding yet another layer of equipment and skill to all the stuff I am learning as I go. At heart I’m a writer, but podcasting would be a nice outgrowth.