Just Writing

(It’s been a long time since we’ve heard from Jamelah Earle on this blog. Here’s what she’s been up to. — Levi)

A couple of weeks ago, I flew across the country to hang out with an old friend (one I actually met on Litkicks about a decade ago), and on my return journey, I stopped at a kiosk in the airport (Seattle-Tacoma: you know you’re in Seattle when you walk past four Starbucks on your way to your gate) and picked up a book: Medium Raw, by Anthony Bourdain. I started the book on the miserable final leg of my trip home, the flight from St. Louis to Detroit, while sat next to a guy who kept staring at me. He may have had BO, or it may have been the onion rings from the airport Burger King; it’s amazing how similar those two smells are, which is something I never noticed before being trapped near a bag of them in the compressed-air, confined tube of an airplane. Be that as it may, I like Bourdain, and I like his book. The editing leaves something to be desired (Gnarls Barclay? Really?), but even though I don’t always agree with him, Bourdain is blunt and funny and he swears a lot, which is always aces in my book.

I’m not going to review the book (I haven’t actually finished it yet; since getting home, I’ve only managed to get in a few pages at a time while on my lunch breaks – it’s been busy here), but there’s something in it that caught my eye, and I’ve thought about it off and on since I saw it. At the end of the book, there’s a Q & A with Bourdain, and he said something interesting about writers and writing:

Listen, there are a lot of writers I admire, but I don’t want to sit around talking about writing. First of all, I’m superstitious about it. You talk about writing, you’re giving up – it’s bad juju. Then you become one of the Starbucks people: you talk about writing but you’re not doing it. It’s like fucking. Don’t talk about fucking, just fuck. Don’t talk about writing, write. You can talk about reading, that’s okay.

I have a friend I talk to about writing, the only friend I talk to about writing, because he’s a writer and therefore gets it. Talking about writing can be a dangerous game: talk enough and you don’t have time to write, and you become all talk, but at the same time, sometimes you need to mention to somebody what you’re up to, need to get it out, away from yourself. You can get too far inside your own head and get lost there if you’re not careful. That’s what happened to me.

A couple of years ago, I was unemployed. I’d lost my job right before the economy went tits up in 2008, and then spent the next year (and then some) unable to find work. Most of the time, I couldn’t even land an interview. Well, actually, most of the time, I couldn’t even get a response to my resume, which always made me feel awesome. When I was nearing the end of my sabbatical from gainful employment, I had a thought: “I could’ve written a novel by now,” I said to my friend with whom I sometimes talk about writing. And then I decided I would start writing one. I had an idea, sort of, and I jumped in, joyful and clueless and dedicated to the task at hand. I wrote and wrote and wrote, disparate pieces of a novel that I was sure I would figure out how to stick together later. I didn’t know how the book would end, and I wasn’t entirely certain of everything that was going to happen in the middle, either. I didn’t know much, as it happens, but I knew one tiny thing, and I figured that small detail was enough to carry me through a novel-length manuscript.

It wasn’t.

I wrote the beginning, and then I had a thought about it, and wrote it again. Then again. I wound up with seven different beginnings, a small portion of some stuff that might have, at some point, comprised part of the middle of the book, and what could possibly have been an epilogue. I don’t really know. This took months. I changed styles, I changed perspectives, I changed protagonists. It got frustrating and difficult and unwieldy. I had written tens of thousands of words and I still had exactly nothing.

I mean, there was some good writing in there. Some of it is even astoundingly lovely, so much so that when I read it, I have a hard time believing that I’m responsible for it. But I had to think so hard about everything, and could sometimes spend a half an hour on a sentence, getting all the words just right. At some point in this process, I realized I needed a break. I would step back for a little while, maybe get some perspective, and then I would jump back in and everything would be fine. But I was busy, and I had a job and a boyfriend and I had stuff to do that was important, like sitting outside in the sun with a beer, reading a book someone else had written. So obviously, I didn’t have a whole lot of time to work on wrangling that beastly manuscript into something worthwhile. And the more I distanced myself from the work of writing, the more the mere thought of sitting down in front of my computer and pounding out sentences started seeming as appealing as having dental work done.

But I could talk a good game. If you asked me about it – and people did, because of course I told everybody that I was writing a novel – I could tell you all sorts of things. I could tell you what I was up to, I could tell you what I thought and where I struggled. I could tell you about the manuscript’s strengths and shortcomings. I knew the things that needed a little editing and the bits that were good. I could tell anybody all of this, even when I hadn’t bothered to click on the file (well, excuse me, one of the files – that thing encompasses several documents) in months. I’d stopped writing the novel, but in my head, I was still living out the narrative of someone who was writing a novel. I was, essentially, full of shit.

And then 2011 happened. The first quarter of this year was a special kind of awful, so bad that sometime around mid-February, it just started getting funny. The relationship I’d been in for most of the previous year had completely disintegrated so I was horrifically sad, my job went completely insane, and everyone I knew seemed to be miserable for one reason or another; it was like some widespread plague of suck. And to top it off, it was winter in Michigan, so it was dark and cold and it snowed all the damn time. I missed my best friend’s surprise birthday party – held a few days before she was to have major surgery to remove cancer from her body (the surgery was successful, thank goodness) – because I was sitting in my car alone in a parking lot, crying and watching it snow as the sky turned dark, hating myself for not being able to get it together enough to be around other people. I couldn’t stop thinking about how six weeks earlier, I’d been happier than I’d been in, I don’t know, years, but it doesn’t take long for things to go completely to hell once they start sliding toward the flames. To put it mildly, I wasn’t in a good place in life.

I didn’t know what to do with myself anymore, so I started writing again, because that kept me busy. It filled the hours when I wasn’t at work, and kept me from other things I might’ve done then, like slitting my wrists or eating my weight in chocolate. I didn’t really write anything worthwhile, and I certainly didn’t pick my novel back up and set to work on it. I wrote nothings, little flashes of ideas that got me back into the habit of putting words into sentences into paragraphs into pages. It was exercise, and I needed to get back into shape. I didn’t even save much of it; I’d just write and let it go.

It’s been nearly a year since I wrote anything on my novel manuscript, and I’m now comfortable calling that experiment in sustained storytelling an utter failure. I think there’s some good in it in places, but I also know that sifting through all the garbage strewn across various documents in order to find what’s worth saving probably isn’t worth the trouble. Someday, when I am emotionally able to say goodbye to one more thing I put myself into (there was a time, before it fell apart, before it became some form of verbal wankery, when my heart was in it), I’ll let go of it, too. I still have the idea, and maybe in the future, I’ll be able to make that idea into something worthwhile. I hope so; it really is a good idea, if, at present, it’s nothing more than that.

To get back to the genesis of this post, I think Anthony Bourdain has a point, even if I don’t entirely agree with it. I think it’s okay to talk about writing, as long as that’s not all you’re doing. (My friend, the one with whom I discuss writing sometimes, says he can’t call himself a writer if he hasn’t sold anything in six months; I’m a little less strict and say you can’t call yourself a writer if you’re not writing anything.) But writers can be an insufferable lot, because talking about writing can be just awful, and the line between discussing something in a useful way and being an utter dick is incredibly narrow. (This is why I never took writing classes – I used to listen to conversations among people who were in writing classes.)

I’m willing to take advice from Anthony Bourdain; he’s written way more books than I ever have. The most important thing about writing is to do it. Do the work. Because writing is work. It can be fun work, but it still takes the time to sit there and write. Not thinking about writing, or talking about writing, actually writing. The thing I’ve learned from my failure as a novelist is that it’s not all romantic and driven by a muse; I suppose it would be lovely to be inspired all the time, but when it comes down to it, I have learned that I’d rather have the discipline to stay focused on the work and to get something done.

I don’t know if I’m any better at writing than I used to be, but I hope that I’m at least smarter about it. This is why I won’t tell you what I’m up to these days, but, as ever, it’s definitely something. Life is on the upswing, and I no longer sit alone in my car and cry over that charming blue-eyed man. I’ve been working on something for about a month, and entertaining the hell out of myself in the process.

I’m writing. Just writing. That’s all.

7 Responses

  1. I think being a writer is
    I think being a writer is just something you can never get away from, no matter where you might find yourself in life. I’ve been away from being a journalist banging away at least 10,000 words on a weekly basis. I had a whole rhythm going on to the madness that is the writing process; I’d gather all my information, attend events, interview people for 10-14 different stories before I sat down to write a single word. When I did, it was utter chaos, sorting stuff out in my head, flipping through notes, listening to the odd voice file but always tap, tap, tapping away at times with only coffee as my fuel, often times till the wee wee-er hours of the morning.

    Incorporating my editorial tasks to the whole just added to the information load I had floating around in my head. I remember when I first began as a journalist I had a bit of trouble sifting through everything and was often overwhelmed and on information overload, but I quickly learned to categorize it in my head, leave it sitting there for a few days, pulling it out, writing about it and flushing it out at that point. Which often lead to forgetting what you wrote about in the previous week’s issue.

    At times though as I prepared to face the onslaught with blank page before me, I wondered if I’d ever deplete that pool that must lie within me somewhere, if the well would ever run dry and I’d run out of words, but to be honest writing has become second-nature, it’s like eating, drinking, sleeping or occasionally having sex, it’s just something I can do with seemingly little effort (not that sex requires little effort), but you get that you can do it without having to think about it overly much.

    While some people might think that it’s a gift, I’ve often thought it a curse, though I’ll admit I did thrive on the chaotic pace, the many cups of coffee and the often two to four hours of sleep for a couple of days prior to meeting deadline in order to get that next weekly issue rolling off the presses.

    I went back to journalism three months ago after a two-month hiatus and I just finished my three-month stint about three weeks ago. Though I told my employer if they ever find themselves in a bind again and in need of someone to fill in a short gap between reporters or editors, I’d consider it if I’m able to (it’s not a bad situation to be in for either one of us).

    Since then, my children’s book about composting has finally been published and I am still writing, every day. Not with the hurried pace I previously was, but still I catch myself thinking, OK, I have to sit down and write my next magazine submission, or, I have to start writing an essay about how I re-discovered my own culture during my journalistic journey…the point is you need to stay motivated and a little self-discipline is also imperative because we can also be masters at boondoggling, but if you really want to write and be a writer, there are plenty of venues out there waiting for your next piece, so keep writing.

    Glad to hear you’re still doing the same Jamelah!

  2. The reason I came here today
    The reason I came here today was to tell you about Control Switch On (http://controlswitchon.com/) and it’s disgusting innards, but I started to enjoy your blog and decided to stay.

    This entry speaks to me. But, before I get into that, I would just like to make address the Starbucks issue. I have driven through Seattle and counted, at least, four Starbucks within a two block radius. It is out of control.

    It’s raining here. Sometimes I like to imagine that I’m in exciting and rainy England, rather than boring and rainy Washington.

    Yes, writing is difficult. It takes a lot of effort…more than people think. I’ve often felt drained and exhausted after writing a few pages of prose. But it’s also fun…if you do it right.

    I don’t presume to have all the answers or know if what I’m doing can be construed as the right way, the correct way to write, but I’m trying and at times it makes me happy. Writing, you see, releases energies and emotions that would normally stay hidden, hibernating deep in your soul. It is both exhausting and rewarding work, a blessing and a curse.

    I have been unemployed many times within the past few years and while I haven’t written any novels, I still feel that I could have, that I have the potential. And, knowing I have that ability is good enough for now.

  3. Well, Jamelah, that’s a
    Well, Jamelah, that’s a heart-felt piece of writing. It’s good to read something by you on LitKicks. You are one who inspired me to start interviewing people, in case you didn’t know. Didn’t it seem a lot easier when we had nothing to prove?

    Someone told me that I had trouble finishing things because it reminded me of death. Like, when a person is in their twenties and thirties, they can see all these different paths: Maybe I’ll go to college, maybe I’ll join the military, maybe I’ll work with computers, be a librarian, a teacher, a photographer, live in a cabin in the woods, live in New York City . . . and you really see that any of these roads are possible; BUT, to firmly decide on a path, I tend to look to the end of the path, and there’s a finality to it, because finally you are mapping your life out to the end. So as long as I don’t chose, I won’t die (so says the shoulder imp, but don’t believe it). Either somebody told me that or I made it up, I don’t remember which. And I’m not saying you are like that. I’m just . . . what’s the expression . . . saying.

    I’ve been taking Levi’s advice of writing in the morning and it I like it. The main thing with me is, I don’t worry about getting much done each day. If I had started writing when I was, say, thrity, I could have taken ten years to write my first book, ten years to write my second book, and been half-way done with a thrid book! Not that it should really take ten years. That’s just an example.

    Hey, as an aside, I just thought of something: Levi inspired me to start writing article, Caryn inspired me to make my website neater and more professional, and you inspired me, not only to interview people, but also to write novels, with that Kundera book, The Art of the Novel.

    But none of you should ask me for royalties or anything.

  4. Is not the true reward of
    Is not the true reward of writing the ability to put into words that which passes thru your mind before it becomes lost into the ethers? Writing for me is that challenge, to see how well I’m able to convey to both myself and the reader that waterfall or stream of thoughts that happen to us all… and when some of those thoughts so intrigue us that we, the writer, would love to share them… put them into print so others may possibly enjoy them as we initially did when those particular thoughts passed thru our minds, lighting up the imagination, inspiring enough to make the challenge to write about them as convincingly as we are able.

    Any art form I’m familiar with, including writing, not only requires a certain level of discipline to put our words into print, but also we need the initial inspiration to kick start the engines… engaging the senses into action. Force feeding any art I feel tarnishes (if not destroys) inspiration… so highly intent we become to make that which inspired us in the first place into our little (or great) masterpiece, that the need to do so overthrows the gentleness in which the inspiration was given to us.

    One of my earlier ‘cecilisms’ that I still find comfort in –

    Inspiration
    promises nothing
    but only gives of itself –
    a personal invitation
    to embark upon
    a journey

    When we force our journey to reach the supposed ending, we can easily lose so much that passes along on that journey… the lake to the west of us, the spectacular mountains that we may see to the east… the cloud formations above us… all these add to the journey that may well enhance that which we are writing if we become aware of them. But unfortunately, we find ourselves (or put ourselves) into the hurried position of time limitations… not enough time to indulge the imagination, the need to get the work done and move on to something new… all these and so much more can affect our inspiration, our need to express ourselves. After all, is not art but another avenue we take to communicate that which inspires? To communicate as clearly as we can, we should not rush it for we may distort that which we want to share with others.

    Thank you, Jamelah, for an excellent piece that has inspired me to reply!

  5. “The thing I’ve learned from
    “The thing I’ve learned from my failure as a novelist is that it’s not all romantic and driven by a muse”

    Wait…there are parts that *are* romantic and muse-driven?

    And can I just say that your friend–the one with whom you occasionally discuss writing–sounds as wise, witty, and devilishly handsome as a person without any felony convictions can be.

  6. Sylphe — Hi! I tried
    Sylphe — Hi! I tried journalism for awhile after I graduated and discovered that I am not cut out to be a journalist (sleeping: I like it way too much, for one thing), but I admire people who can do it, because I know how hard it is. Also, congrats on the children’s book. Cool!

    Sanderson — There are a lot of Starbucks. It was kind of amazing. Writing is amazing too, in that it is both challenging and a hell of a good time (sometimes it’s a hell of a good time BECAUSE it’s challenging).

    Bill — Should I just demand the royalties instead of asking? Heh.

    Cecil — Writing and I have a complex relationship, in that sometimes I love it and sometimes I hate it, but despite how I feel, I try to stick around and let it surprise me. Inspired or no, it’s almost always surprising, which is enough for me.

    greg — Do felony convictions increase one’s wisdom, wit, and handsomeness?

  7. I warned you not to listen to
    I warned you not to listen to the shoulder imp!

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Litkicks will turn 30 years old in the summer of 2024! We can’t believe it ourselves. We don’t run as many blog posts about books and writers as we used to, but founder Marc Eliot Stein aka Levi Asher is busy running two podcasts. Please check out our latest work!