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| "Summer of 42" grass-scape Nantucket, MA |
Way back in
August, more specifically, way back on August 5th, I found the
inspirational crutch I needed to help me with my writing of “The
Handcycle Diaries.”
That was the day I began reading Haruki Murakami’s “What I Write About
When I Write About Running.”
The book is a memoir of Murakami’s running experiences woven around his growth
and development as a writer. I was anxious to gain some insight on how someone
develops as a writer. What really struck me on that hot August 5th
day as I was sitting on a beach in Lake Forest, Illinois (yes, there are
beaches in Illinois) were the very first words I read from his book: August
5th…
Was it Karma, serendipity or just a plain old “shit happens” event, I don’t
know. But the irony of the August 5th occurrence fired up my creative process. I
could use “What I Write About…” as a template for Handcycle Diaries.
The
karma/serendipity/shit happens theme was still in play of when I placed a
bookmark to save my spot in the book. The bookmark itself was a rather
innocuous marker that one sees near the cash register at bookstores. This
particular marker had been inserted into a collection of short stories that my
mother had given me for my birthday.
One side of
the paper bookmark was an advertisement for the bookstore where the book was
purchased; on the flipside, a quotation that read, “One informed reader is
worth a thousand boneheads.” Handwritten in ink below that quotation was a note
from my mother that simply said “A thought for today. Love Mother.” I know that
was a pretty standard quote to extol the virtues of reading but what grabbed me
was the relevance of these quotations to the discussion that took place with my
family on the car-ride to the beach.
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| B&W Milkweed Herrick Lake Forest Preserve |
As we drove
to the beach we listened to an AM station so we could get updated traffic and
weather reports. The headline story of the day was the ever-growing NSA scandal
and I voiced my worries about the invasion of privacy that was occurring. The
family was nonplussed by the news and opined that I “spend too much time
reading the New York Times and watching MSNBC.” That bookmark, with the
quotation and note from my mother, helped ease my anxiety over my families’
reaction to the NSA scandal but it increased my bewilderment over the
karma/serendipity/shit happens time-warp that I found myself in.
But I
digress, back to “What I Write About”. My first realization was that a memoir
is a looking back, best of highlight piece where the writer has the luxury
picking and choosing what to include, whereas a journal is a real-time log of
events. Other than that, I can see some similarities in our writing styles and
Murakami even includes the titles of the music that he uses for motivation
while running just like I had been doing at the ending of my blog posts.
So for the
next couple of months I will post writings about the various trails I have
taken and also how this new-found passion has effected me, both physically and
mentally.
With that I
leave you with two songs: (Don’t read anything into these selections, other
than, I really like the sound.)
and
Don't I get credit for buying the book?
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