Storytellersunplugged

(AND OTHER WRITERLY TIPS FOR THE NEARLY-DEAD)

by John Skipp

This morning, at Shocklines (the only other website where I’m known to malinger), a writer named Mike Philbin raised a couple of interesting questions.

And because they caught, then held, my mind’s eye, I’d like to sort of paraphrase them for you.

1) WHAT ARE YOUR FEELINGS ABOUT THE LAST WORKS OF DYING WRITERS? Are they the summation of a writer’s journey? A bitter last gasp, before the curtain? Just another book? Or what?

2) YOU’RE GIVEN A FATAL PROGNOSIS, AND A LAPTOP. Do you write differently, in the face of death? Do you pull out all the stops? Make a grand statement? Just try to squeeze one last one out, for the hell of it? Or what?

Answering the second question first:

I don’t know about you guys, but I ALWAYS write as if I’m dying.

Partly because I always AM dying, just like everybody else.

Partly because, one of these days, that will be a truly accurate assessment.

Partly because it lends a certain urgency to the proceedings.

Partly because I read the first three Carlos Castaneda books (THE TEACHINGS OF DON JUAN: A JAQUI WAY OF KNOWLEDGE, A SEPARATE REALITY, and JOURNEY TO IXTLAN), in my early teens.

And — like Oliver Stone and thousands of others — I completely internalized the message…

…that Death shadows you, every moment of your life: always to your left side, at arm’s length…

…which means that, at any moment, Death can reach over and touch you…

…which means that you live your life as a warrior. Aware that every second could be your last. And therefore choosing to live in a manner that makes EVERY MOMENT COUNT.

Easier said than done, of course. WAY easier said than done.

But I’ll tell ya: if you treat each line as if it could be your last, you may find that your patience for bullshit, joylessness, preciousness, sloppiness, lack of clarity, lack of sincerity, and lack of integrity goes way the hell down.

You may also find that you’re less and less interested in jumping through other people’s hoops, letting other people waste your time.

This will not necessarily result in “Important Writing”. (Just ask anyone who thinks my writing sucks!)

But if it makes you want to invest GENUINE VALUE in every speck of your work — to write as if LIFE REALLY MEANS SOMETHING — then that ain’t such a terrible thing.

On the other hand: if you let Death reduce you to self-pitying squeals of sour grapes and outrage — lashing out bitterly at the lucky who live on — then your last book will almost certainly suck.

And that, as they say, will be the end of that!

————–

As for the first question:

The one book that leaps to mind is OH, THE PLACES YOU’LL GO!, by Dr. Seuss.

The art is JUST a little simpler than usual (like, maybe, he wanted to make sure he finished). But the rhymes, as usual, are superb.

And the message — regarding the beauty and peril of Life’s Great Adventure –is the epitome of generous human wisdom, at its most helpful and delightful and profound.

I think it’s the greatest going-away present an author ever left to the world.

But I’m sure there must be plenty of others.

FEEL FREE TO LET ME KNOW!

Yer pal, on the path with heart,
Skipp

(P.S. — I’m going into town for the night, so I’m posting this early. Sorry! GO READ SCOTT’S ESSAY, TOO!)