The Writers Workshop;11:25am

so, here we are, almost half-way through with the correspondences session of the writers workshop project, and seven months into the entire writers workshop itself. time flies, nahm sayin’.

we started off with two dudes who’ve been trying to write novels for the past decade. a million stories we knew we had, but when it came time to putting it down, we didn’t. for whatever reasons, self-imposed or imposed by the universe, the result was the same. we didn’t write. and so those stories that we represented stayed in our heads and our ever changing memories.

but fuck it, we said. let’s try it one more time. let’s try it a little differently. let’s put it up on the internet and see what happens. let’s invite people we know to do the same thing and see what happens. let’s give ourselves a time limit and see what happens. let’s give ourselves the rule of writing everyday and see what happens.

well, my friends, this is what happened. 30+ writers. from across the country. all different in every possible definition of the word. most don’t know each other except from the writings they throw down. all have taken up the challenge they gave to themselves to improve their craft of writing. all are helping to change the landscape of literature in this new millenium.

i love this shit, man!

about a week ago, i was having this conversation with this dude who had sex with this girl i liked. i told him about the writers workshop. i asked if he wanted to join up. and he told me, “nah, man. i only write when i’m inspired. pass the joint.” that pissed me off. probably more so because of the girl sitch, but after i physically attacked him and got my ass kicked because of his hop ki do training, i started thinking.

athletes don’t athlete-acise only when they get inspired. they train for friggin’ years to get as close as they can to a level of excellence that is dubbed undeniable. most never achieve it. but it’s the painstaking pursuit of the undeniable that allows themselves to properly call themselves athletes. it is that daily grind and sacrifice that opens up synapses and reforms muscles, evolving the athlete beyond what they were the day before. it’s evolution. and the consistent maintenance of.

if you don’t like the athlete metaphor (or is it analogy? i should’ve went to school for this…) then it applies to musicians. and dancers. and actors. basically anyone out there who is good at what they do. they do not wait for inspiration to hit them. they go out and find it.

half way is always the hardest. you can’t see where you started and can’t see the finish line. so it’s a good thing we have about 30+ people chugging along with us. we can at least see them. and find inspiration in that.

time to get some breakfast.