OK, last post in death week. I am not trying to depress people this week, honest. It’s just that death is what makes life so rich and meaningful. The threat of death makes people define their lives, or at least it should, because we only get one go around.
My post about Pat touched on why I want to write and what my vision is in regard to my writing. My writing has another death-like inspiration as well – my Lupus diagnosis. The story of that journey, and overcoming the fear it released, can be found here at Lupus.org.
I have wanted to write fiction professionally since I started business writing and editing for a living. It was a dream and then a goal and now I am working on making it a reality. I happen to idolize Flannery O’Connor, so when I was diagnosed six years ago, I had an inspiring writing-with-lupus reference point. But unlike Flannery, this disease will probably not kill me; not quickly anyway. And, like Pat’s death, it was yet another wake-up call that this gift of life we are given is very fleeting and temporary. We should live it with purpose. This is why I plan to spend the rest of my days writing even if no one ever reads a word.
If you had just ten years left, what would you strive towards?
The biggest change I think I would make is that I wouldn’t schedule anything. I would just move fluidly around. Schedules seem to get me doing things that I’m not in the mood to do right at the moment. I might actually want to do them… but on my own time.
Honestly, if I had 10 years, and didn’t need to make money, I would strive to be, not to do. Doing is so human. I’d want to live like an animal. Ok, and maybe a little social work on the side.