Writing
Writing
Today is Friday, and if you need to sell a convertible this would be a fine day for it. Seventy degrees, light zephyr breeze and a blue sky with fluffy white clouds. There will be football tomorrow. Florida is coming to town, and maybe we will learn a bit more about our erratic Tigers. Les Miles is a great guy, and very popular here in Baton Rouge, but he plays football like I play one pocket. Be cautious and don't try anything risky. So he is gone, maybe to Baylor - who knows? It will be interesting to see whether he changes his ways now.
Let me put in a word for writing. I think most of us believe we can write, and I think most of us can. There are lots of reasons why we don't, but a few reasons why we should. Think of your life - pool, money, sex, love and kids, but not in that order, of course. Haven't you ever said 'man I could write a book'; come on, pal, you are among friends? I'm not recommending writing a book, far from it. That's hard work, and then you would find that you would have to hire someone to edit and print it for you, and you would have to sell it yourself. Chances are you couldn't find four buyers at a family reunion.
So, no books, but here we are at a fine website devoted to the great game of one pocket, and a captive audience of hundreds of kindred souls who would love to know of your adventures in pool rooms - or at least in the area. Think you could not write it well? Okay, write it poorly, but submit it for our entertainment, not our criticism. Not many qualified editors around here.
Now, this might be controversial, but I find writing to be a blast. You can have a lot of fun writing for yourself, with the option to share it or delete it when it's done. Or when it's half done, for that matter. I'm sitting at the keyboard right now, picking and grinning. I got Steve to okay this journal, and I have fun as I write. I have no idea as to how many might read it, but I will write it anyway for the fun of it.
Life-writing has become popular in recent years. It means writing down the story of your life, told in your words. It gives the retirees and the elderly something to do; something important. Maybe you don't know much about your own father or your grandfather or your other kinfolks, and maybe you don't care, but probably somebody cares. One could find out, if they had written it down. I suspect there may be some exaggerating in these tales, and perhaps some outright lies, but it's nobody's business but yours. Just don't gild the lily too much, as you could be busted.
I think life-writing is popular among older people because they are so aware that the end of their enlistment is not far away, and they don't want to wait too long. And let's face it, how certain are you about your own expiration date? Don't blow it off, pal, write it. There are at least a few people who will want a copy.
My own is nearly finished, naturally. Only the last chapter is not quite complete, and even that is pretty close. I chose to do it in chapters, rather than chronologically. A chapter for my hometown, my original family, my second family, my life in various schools, my sports days, my military time, the various jobs I have worked at and the places where I have done time. I have tried to be objective as I wrote, but there may be one or two little things that are not verified, but who is going to say so? You know?
One day soon I will take it to a printer and have about a dozen sets run off neatly on good paper, with a spiral binding and a glossy cover sheet bearing my name. Picture? Not hardly. Anyone who wants one can have it, and there may be a few left over. I don't care, I will have done what I could. How about you?