Julian Summerhayes

“When you do something, you should do it with your whole body and mind; you should be concentrated on what you do. You should do it completely, like a good bonfire. You should not be a smoky fire. You should burn yourself completely. If you do not burn yourself completely, a trace of yourself will be left in what you do.”
― Shunryu Suzuki, Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind: Informal Talks on Zen Meditation and Practice

It's one of my favourite things.

Both the act and appreciating the craft/gift of others.

Right now (in case you hadn't noticed), I'm deep into the flawless writing of Ursula K. Le Guin. 

I'm in awe. 

One thing I'm starting to appreciate, not that I didn't know this already, is that you can read all you like about the exegesis of writing but there's no substitute for doing it — day after back-breaking day.

Nah, that's not right. It shouldn't be hard. As Bukowski said: "Don't try". And he's right (write — haha). If you have to try so hard then perhaps writing's not for you.

I don't know. So much of writing appears tied up in publishing. And I get it. But I wonder how much of that is a marketing exercise? Same style, same font, same theme and all that. I sound jealous given I've only ever published, well, precisely FA. I'm not. I've no pretension that I'm a writer in the strict or any sense of the word. I like to write, hell, as a lawyer I'm paid to do it (in a very stuffy, ornamental way) but I've never felt the white heat sufficient to ship my work. More fool me you might say, but honestly, I love what I do, as limited as it is. 

What about you?

What brings you to the writing table? 

Have a good one.

Blessings,

— Ju

Photo by Ihor Malytskyi on Unsplash

I bloody love this. 

Thanks to my good friend davesmusictank for the reminder of the genius of the dude.