Posts Tagged: headlights
“Traveler in the Dark”
The following is from Wordsmith.org.
A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
“Writing is like driving a car at night. You can only see as far as the headlights, but you make the whole trip that way.” -Cory Doctorow, author and journalist (b. 17 Jul 1971).
“Too often, I just want to sit in the car, and pretend I’m going somewhere. You don’t even have to turn on the headlights or start the engine, if you do that!” (DTEB)
I think that what Doctorow’s vivid comment means is that writers don’t see very far ahead. They travel in the dark, the length of their headlights, until they reach their destination.
This is one of my problems as a writer. I want to know how the story ends before I begin. And when I don’t know, I just sit in the car, and make engine noises.
It is not just in writing that I do this. I have a tendency to do it in every area of my life. I nearly let my sweetheart get away without marrying her. Why? I didn’t know how the story would end. (After nearly forty-five years, it hasn’t ended, but I like the way the story is unfolding a lot!) It may be safer to sit in the car and pretend to be going somewhere, but it is lonely. Ultimately, it isn’t much fun, either.
I nearly stayed in a horrible, debilitating addiction. Why? I didn’t know how the story would end. I was afraid to divulge all my secrets, afraid that exposure of these secrets really would be the end of my story. It turned out to be the beginning of a whole new story, which I like so much better than the old one.
I nearly failed to get my Ph.D. Why? I didn’t know how the story would end. I preferred just sitting in the car, pretending that I could have gotten my Ph.D. What a frustratingly wonderful trip I would have missed if I had not decided to turn on the engine and lights, and put the car in gear!
On and on it goes.
We are not all of us writers, but we all are writing our life stories. We do it with our thoughts, our attitudes, our words. Above all, we do with our actions.
We were not made to sit in the car, and say, “Varummm! Varummm!” The darkness is real, and the road is difficult. But we do have headlights.
And, as Dan Fogelberg said in his song “Nexus,”
“Blessed the traveler
Who journeys the length of the light.”
DOWN TO EARTH BELIEVER
- DTEB, “Getting Christ and Ourselves Back in Focus” November 11, 2024“Col. 3:1 ¶ If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Col. 3:2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. Col. 3:3 For you have died, and your life is hidden […]
- “Search Me!” October 27, 2024“Psa. 139:23 Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! 24 And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!” (Psalm 139:23-24, English Standard Version) I am participating in a Bible study, and this is a prayer […]
- “Christian Speech” October 26, 2024“Eph. 4:29 Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.” Foulkes, in his excellent commentary on the Book of Ephesians, writes the following, which I quote at some length: “29. Now the […]
- “God is in the Details” October 11, 2024“The devil is in the details.” (A general saying, often quoted by lawyers, reporters, and negotiators.) “God is in the details.” (Me, almost certainly not original.) “Luke 12:7 Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows.” (Jesus) God does not micromanage, but God […]
- “Grandma’s Pump” October 8, 2024When I was a little critter, I would stay at my grandma’s house for a night or two sometimes. I liked this for a lot for many reasons. One thing I liked about staying with her was that Grandma’s house was much more technologically advanced than ours was. For one thing, she had indoor water—sort […]
- “Wearing the #14 Wrong-Side-Out” October 5, 2024Pete Rose, #14, is dead. Many of the old guys with whom I play softball watched him play and appreciated him greatly. I do as well. He was one of the greatest players who ever played the game. Yes, he admitted (eventually) to betting on baseball. But many of us still regard him as one […]
- “Passing Along the Love (and a Link)” October 4, 2024Several years ago, a friend of mine put me onto a daily meditation by Richard Rohr and friends. I don’t read them all the time, but I probably should. They are good! I thought that today’s writing was especially good, and I also figured that this would be a good way to post something. I […]
- “Witnessing Versus Being Witnesses” September 19, 2024“Acts 1:1 In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach, Acts 1:2 until the day when he was taken up, after he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. Acts 1:3 He presented himself alive to them after […]
- “A Bathroom Prayer for Hurting Hands” September 11, 2024A week ago Sunday, my hands were hurting so badly at church that I went to the bathroom to run hot water over my hands. Arthritis perhaps, or carpal tunnel, or general orneriness—I don’t know why my hands hurt, but they do. They have for years. So, while I was running hot water over my […]
- “Waiting and Seeking” September 10, 2024“Lam. 3:19 ¶ Remember my affliction and my wanderings, the wormwood and the gall! Lam. 3:20 My soul continually remembers it and is bowed down within me. Lam. 3:21 But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: Lam. 3:22 ¶ The steadfast love of the LORD […]
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