I know you know what I'm talking about.
'Three Feet From Gold'. The story is a referent to the notion of never giving up. Persistence, and moving steadily toward a goal is the key to success or some such.
The gist of the story is that R.U. Darby went into business with his uncle in gold prospecting. The uncle had found a really promising ore vein and was sure of striking it rich. Well, this mine quickly played out, and they didn't have much to show. They kept digging, but at some point in the digging they realized there wasn't anymore gold to be dug, dig? They quit in great sorrow and disgust, sold everything and went home. Well the guy they sold it to found the mother lode they were seeking, and come to find out, Darby and his uncle had been three feet from gold. Had they but stuck with it and dug just a little more, they would have been filthy rich. We don't know what happened to uncle what's his name, but Darby went on to make millions in insurance sales. We can't feel too sorry for him.
Anyway.
DON'T GIVE UP, RIGHT?
Don't give up. We hear it all the time, us, writers I mean. We, writers, get all kinds of mixed messages don't we? On the one hand, we hear don't give up, your 'tribe' is waiting for you, yeah? On the other, we hear from innumerable Yakety-yak-clickety-clacks out there just how many damn books are published every day, the innuendo being is that your book has pretty much a snowball's chance in writer's freaking hell of being found, much less being read. But. Don't give up, you're three feet from literary gold, right?
Does this sound cynical; it isn't cynical, is it? I'd be more flattered if you told me it sounded edgy; edgy is more cool in my estimation.
SHOULD YOU GIVE UP?
You hear philosophical rants from both sides of the fence, you know, the business side and the artsy-fartsy side. What about from the business side? From the business side, the general thinking is that if a project, product, (book in this case), doesn't clear a consistent profit, you ditch it because it's not working, feasibility or whatever jargon applies here. The artsy-fartsy side? The artsy-fartsy side says tend to the art, and don't give up on it, no matter what. But is that willful attitude correct because really you might be squandering the most precious thing you personally have, which is your life-time. If you write something no other person might read, is it valuable? What's an utterance for? What is writing for but to connect with others, and if you don't connect, what's the reward?
A FEW MORE QUESTIONS, IF I MAY!
Have you ever thought about it, fellow writer, simply giving it up, calling it quits? After all, there's not really anyone standing over you forcing you to do it. That evil bitch character from Misery, (I've talked about her before), isn't there, getting ready to take a sledge hammer to both your feet, so you're free to quit.
When is it right for a writer to say screw it, it's not working, I don't need this stress in my life anymore, ciao? Is it okay to give up?
When would you give it up? What if you wrote a book, and nobody even wanted a free copy, (I've got some thoughts about this free shit—another time), and I say that because it's happened to me. Talk about your crushing blow to the psyche. I shed a few tears over that one, but I didn't give up.
Would you give up if you labored over a book that made you proud, and you sent it out, and it never sold a copy? Would you give up? I'm still pondering it.
Would you give up, or would you ever start if all you had was hope and love of the craft to carry you? I haven't yet, but I've thought about it, a lot.
I know all of it: I know that people, readers are fickle and follow wherever the trendy wind blows, and they don't know you or care about you, until someone, somehow tells them they should care; I know that most are followers, period, and reside in some form of non-specific anxiety, and will always wait till somebody else makes the first move; I know that searching out new reading material isn't high on most people's priority list; I know, and evidence proves, that a lot of folks are losing the deeper connection to language, written language, I'm talking about. Sometimes you see stats that say more people are reading, but when you get out and interact at street level, it may not bear out, from my meager experience. I haven't made any studies on it; it's an observation. With all of that, I wonder sometimes where I should aim my literate arrows. I guess I'm making a veiled reference to marketing here. How do you sell one dream in a raging ocean of dreams? Just asking, bless the word.
LET'S CIRCLE BACK
You're not gonna give up, are you? You won't give up on something that brings you a deeper reward than money can bring, will you? By the way, it isn't wasted time, this writing stuff down; it's affirmation, sharing of life lived and the shit we've been through, sharing all the beautiful and foul stuff we've seen. It's not a waste of time to try to make sense out of garbled time.
I'm not going to give up; I'm too deep into it now. You don't give up either. After all, you could be 'three feet from gold'. I keep threatening to go out stark naked wearing nothing but my book for cover, holding a cardboard sign that says TAKE MY FIGLEAF, PLEASE.
Hang in there, and oh, never, never, never give up, no, never give up. It's tuneful, ain't it? Happy belated birthday, Tweety Bird.
Namaste
Bill Bowling
January 19, 2016