Next Life in the Afternoon

I have had to put off writing as much as I had planned to because of some circumstances that have eaten away at my free time. Namely, I am referring to my day job. I recently started working full time so I can have things like money and insurance and means to support my habit of living under a roof and eating every day.

What this means is that the completion of my book will likely not be at the end of the year. I have not had time to work on it much in the last several weeks, as I work during the day and at night and on weekends, and when I do have time to write I am mostly too tired to do much more than sit around.

My old pal and teacher Tim McLaurin used to talk about his days of writing his first novel. He was working construction, an early-riser’s gig, and had to be at work by 7 a.m. He would start writing at 4 a.m. and get done what he could before he had to leave home. Every day was like this until he finished the manuscript and got the book published.

I think I could take a page from his book, so to speak, in more than just this example. Tim’s life was intense in many ways. He was a dedicated writer and teacher and did not do much halfway. He was straightforward when he spoke and honest as well, an honorable man who nonetheless had faults, many of which he wrote about in an effort to show his children and the rest of the world that the past we have is not something to hide from or be ashamed about. The past has brought us to where we are and where we are now is a gift. We may not like where we are but the gift inside the present moment is opportunity.

Tim was like a non-celibate monk who sometimes liked to drink to excess. He understood that the past was gone and that the future had not yet arisen, and that all we had was the present moment.

As I think about this, I am reminded that I have the opportunity to be more stringent with my writing schedule, to mark times to do the important work I have in front of me and not defer my dreams due to a simple lack of time.

Langston Hughes Wrote:

What happens to a dream deferred?

Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore–
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over–
like a syrupy sweet?

Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.

Or does it explode?

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