Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Dang Me! I Lack Discipline

I'm still struggling to find the discipline to blog regularly.  I've been thinking a lot about how I talk much less than most people I know and I wonder how all those people find all those words.  I wonder if writing is easier for garrulous folk.  I don't speak a lot because I don't know if I what I have to say is worth hearing, which I guess is the case for most things said in this world.  I'm still going to stick with this blog because I know that the switch will click and soon I will be a writing machine.  For now, I'm resorting to cheap tactics to post regularly.  Today I went through some posts I started but never finished.  Here's one from March of this year: 

I've been reading a lot of Raymond Carver and thinking about drinking gin.  I've also been trying to write and make sense of the thing I do called blogging.  I've also spent a lot of time reading about writing and different methods writers use to write, which allows me to avoid actually writing.

A while back, I read this anecdote from Johnny Cash's autobiography.  I copied the passage down because it meant something to me at the time.  In the passage he shares this incident about driving in the California desert with Roger Miller:

Out in the middle of the desert he told me to pull over, then jumped out, and ran off behind a Joshua tree with a pad and pencil.  When he came back he had a fully written song.

It was "Dang Me."  He'd hidden behind that tree to write it because he knew it was just too hot a song to be created with me or anyone else anywhere near him.  He had to bring it into the world all by himself, like an Apache woman giving birth.  When he came back and sang it to me off the pad, I saw his point.
That's all I wrote, so now I will finish the post.

I guess, I was intrigued with what this anecdote says about writing.  It's a solitary process and sometimes you have to distance yourself from everyone and everything to for the wheels to start turning.  I guess, generally this is true.  During the past few weeks I've been experimenting with just writing whenever I can because it's not always possible to set aside chunks of time to write.  I've taken to scribbling down words or phrases that tickle my fancy.  

Did Navajo women really give birth alone?  Or is Johnny Cash is full of shit?  Saying Johnny Cash is full of shit seems blasphemous in my world.   

be good and do good,
muddywaters







4 comments:

Gravy Girl said...

Keep up the good works! Or, should I say, words?

I think writing a blog is not as easy as it looks. I have many unfinished blogs in my draft file. I do finish one when I am stumped. So, keep a little unfinished ideas in reserve!

I love your writing style. It's kinda like just sitting across the table with a drink (adult or otherwise)and talking.....with you doing all the talking.

Your fellow Midwesterner,

Nella the Gravy Girl

Anonymous said...

Johnny Cash was full of shit. But there was a lot of truth in his shit. His shit spoke more truth than most folk's most honest, heart-felt efforts.

There's a big difference between honesty and the truth. I'm not smart enough to always see it or know what that difference is, but I know it's there.

Anonymous said...

Obtw, saw Ring of Fire a couple of months ago. Worth a look if it's in KC

Johnny said...

I never heard the story about how Miller wrote the song on the side of the road. Its probably true, I've written what I consider to be some of greatest tunes while driving all over California.

I had a record by Roger Miller when I was a kid and it had the song you mentioned and another called Chug a Lug. For southern baptist kid it was pretty racy stuff.

Anyway, for whats its worth. This was a great post keep up the good work! And if you get bored stop by my blog, Its chock full of my insane ramblings.