Why Be A Writer?

Because you have to think of your feet, your identity, and if you’re lucky, you will have a beautiful woman as a MUSE!

What inspired me to write? That question was posed to me on my seventieth birthday. Fifty years ago I had a problem with my feet, my identity, and how I was going to get inspiration for my novels.

The questions that haunted me were: Who am I? Where am I going? Do I belong? Why do my feet ache so much?

What is a MUSE? It’s the seat of your creativity, personified in a beautiful woman!

Oh, that’s all in your mind!

Yes, it is in your mind, the MUSE is your subconscious mind talking to you!

When I was eighteen and fresh out of high school, I got a job in a factory moving material from machine to machine. I was always on my feet and they HURT!

I learned one thing from this job. It was hard on my feet and mine were FLAT!

So, my life’s work would have to be something that wouldn’t give me aching feet. This was one part of the inspiration.

The second part was when I went to a book signing at a bookstore. The writer was very successful. This was his fourth blockbuster novel.

I asked him about his typical workday. He would arise, have a bit of breakfast, and write until noon. Then he and his friends would go fishing and sip tall cool ones on his cabin cruiser. On days that he didn’t feel like fishing, he would write until noon and then go and sit in an outdoor café with his friends and sip tall cool ones!

This, I thought, was a sensible way to earn a living. So, I’ll become a writer and answer my identity questions.

Who am I? I’m a writer.

Where am I going? I’m going to sit down and write and save my feet.

Do I belong? Yes, I will have many friends that write until noon and then sip tall cool ones.

As a writer, I will have a MUSE that gives me inspiration.

Then the writer said something that took me aback!

He told me that he stood up to noon everyday writing. He liked to have his typewriter on the mantel and he typed while standing.

Well, this sounded grueling to me and it certainly wouldn’t do my fallen arches any good.

“Why stand and not sit to write?”

He said he had hemorrhoids and they hurt when he sat!

Well, I did set out to become a writer. I’ve never achieved that writer’s success, but the job has never given me aching feet because I sat down to write.

I have been compared to that writer. Well, sort of. My readers tell me that I’m a real pain in the whatcha-ma-callit!!!

My Much Loved Place In Chicago

When I revisited my hometown of Chicago after a long absence, there were two places I had to revisit. One was the beautiful Buckingham Fountain, and the other one was Wrigley Field, home of the Chicago Cubs baseball team.

I went to this baseball ground many times as a boy and a man. I always had a fabulous time there. Every time I go back it brings memories of my youth.

Wrigley Field is one of baseball’s oldest parks, built in 1914 as a 14,000 seat park. It is beautiful with ivy growing on the outfield walls. It seats over 41,000 now, after many years of adding seats. It was named Wrigley Field after the chewing gum man who bought the club in 1920.

One of its distinctive features is a hand-operated scoreboard, which is 30 feet by 75 feet. In this electronic age, Wrigley Field remains one of baseball’s most old-fashioned parks.

I can remember going to the park, one day, with my friends when I was 10 years old. We would take our baseball mitts just in case a foul ball came our way. At the “Seventh Inning Stretch” everyone gets on their feet and sings, `’Take Me Out To The Ballgame”. It’s a great atmosphere!

I remember one incident vividly. After the game, kids would wait for an hour or so for the players to come out of the dressing room and we would get autographs of our heroes.

Well, this particular time, we caught up with Hank Sauer, a big home run hitter at the time. He was the first player to hit three homers in one game off of the same pitcher!

My friend and I went up to him and he was like a giant compared to us. We probably looked like a couple of waifs!

“Will you sign our scorecards and shake our hands, please?” I said, timidly.

He looked down at us and said, “Lets see your hands.”

We turned our hands palms up.

He looked and said, “They’re too dirty!” Then he walked away.

That remark left us standing there with our mouths open!

Needless to say, we changed our allegiance to a more affable player. This memory still makes me smile today.

So whenever I get back to the “Windy City”, I have to see a ballgame at good old Wrigley Field.

Two Views on The Meaning of Life

Pessimist Views on the Meaning of Life:

Life is Meaningless.

Life is a Struggle.

Life is Absurd.

Life is a long struggle in the Dark.

Life is a predicament that precedes Death.

You’re born, and you don’t know Why.

You’re here, and you don’t know Why.

You Die, and you don’t want to.

The result is you’re a Loser.

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Optimist Views on the Meaning of Life:

Life is to be Enjoyed.

We create our own Meaning of Life.

We are here to seek Wisdom and to be Productive.

To be what we are, and to become what we are capable of becoming, this is the only Meaning of Life.

Life is what you make it.

You get up in the morning and you go to bed at night. In between you try to be happy.

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Don’t we all have a mixture of these views at different times of our lives?

Our response to these views determine the principles by which we live as well as our goals and priorities in life.

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What did you say to yourself at 20 -30 years old?

“What did I learn today?

Why don’t I do the things I know I should be doing?

You should be getting your butt kicked by you boss once in a while.

You need to be pushed to your limits.

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What did you say to yourself at 40 –60 years old?

Time is NOT a limitless commodity. Finish what you start and don’t procrastinate.

Should I be focused on today or tomorrow? Life is a balance of knowing when to enjoy the moment vs. when to plant the seeds for tomorrow.

What did I learn today?

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What did you say to yourself when you were old, 65+?

What’s left to accomplish?

You need a hobby, a passion (mine is writing).

What did I learn today?

You’re always learning or should be.

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THE MEANING OF LIFE

I hope you come to your own conclusions on this ETERNAL QUESTION.