I know it's been a long time since I posted last, and sadly, I cannot report any susbtantial progression on my book. First school caught up with me, and then life happened, and then I just lost the habit of writing. This marks the resuscitation of that particular endeavor and my hope that I can continue to write.
Sometimes I wonder if I've spent all my good ideas. Then I remember how many stories I have yet to tell, and how many words I long to put to the page. Even if I never write another good idea, I'll never stop writing. There is far too much to do!
Now, on to the actual topic at hand. This, being my first semester as an English major, is a semester that is filled with an deluge of literary giants of both the poetic and novellic worlds. Mark Twain, William Wordsworth, Alfred Tennyson, etc., etc. After a bit of reading, a troubling question approached my mind.
What had these gentlemen done to prove their literary efforts noble and clever enough for history to recall them these hundreds of years later? Why these specific poets and novelists?
Mark Twain broached the controversial subjects of the day, and couched his opinions and ideas cleverly in the guise of fiction. That's something. For the life of me though, I can't figure out why certain poets were revered and others were not. They don't really tackle important issues like racism and slavery. Most of the time they just deal in human behaviors.
What makes them different? It's was an idea that I struggled with for the longest time, trying to figure out what separated the wheat from the chaff. However, despite thinking on it for long periods of time, I never made any real progress with the problem.
It has since occurred to me though, that hardly any of the writers known for their work today were ever famous in their lifetime. Their poetry or fiction was just something that they did in the background of the rest of their life. They didn't want to be noticed. They just wanted to write.
That's just what I'm going to have to do. Write and hope that somewhere, at some time, my thoughts and creations will have sway in people's hearts and minds. While I do write because I need to, I also write to connect. The relationship between the author and the reader is one of unity when you think about it. A sharing of thoughts and ideas from one person to another. And it is that act for which I strive.
Pushing forward as always,
Marc Eshleman
