O my little Ant-Eaters!
Ethelie
Today I read this Interview with Miss Elizabeth Gilbert, an Authoress. I was particularly Struck by this Passage wherein she paraphrases Mr. Werner Herzog: “It’s not the world’s fault that you want to be an artist… stop whining and get back to work.”
Upon reading those Words, I leaped from my Bed in the Infirmary. The Surgeons and their beastly Nurses cried for me to Return to their Tender Care, but I could Tarry no Longer. No matter the cost to Myself, no matter the Cost to my Health, it was Time for me to get back to Work.
For look what has Happened! Pie! Celebration! Shameful Harlots! A Horrifying attack upon my Person! Is there no End to Lida’s shenanigans? She has Shamed the entire Directorate with her Wanton Acts; and so I must, as Mr. Herzog said, stop Whining and get back to Work. Never again shall I turn to the sweet Comforts of Laudanum; never again shall I let Anything At All deter me from my Duties to the Directorate.
At least Lida is in Majorca, and I do not have to Suffer having her Zeppelin in my Parking-Space any longer.
This is your Mission today, my little Emperor Penguins, is simply this: read Miss Gilbert’s Essay, and then, get back to Work. Yes, yes, Miss Gilbert also offers words of Support and Encouragement and Self-Forgiveness, but I suppose no Authoress is perfect. Get back to Work! Subsiste sermonem statim et scribe!
Tell us in the Comments: What is your Work? What can you do for your Work this week? What keeps you from doing your Work?
That’s an amazing article! Thanks for the link, Ethelie.
My Work is still learning to write a readable story about something Important. This week, I’m going to work at the line level on my current story to make it more immediate, to put in physical sensation and little snatches of setting that matter.
What keeps me from doing my work is this annoying little voice telling me that I’m doing it Wrong, that the way I’m going about it is a Total Waste, and I won’t make any progress at all the way I’m going. That there is a Correct Way out there, and until I find it, I’ll make no progress.