Wordsprings

It is always best to have a piece of writing growing in mind and word processor.  I have been happily engaged in a new science fiction story which entailed a bit of research.  As sometimes happens, the research took on a life of its own and will probably generate more stories.  Writing is often better for this — wandering afield.  This one, fortunately, has a more distant deadline, and can benefit by dreams, digressions, and small tweaks at intervals.

That is a good thing, this being the season for early gardening.  If I made more money writing, I probably wouldn’t have (or tolerate) so many interruptions.  But maybe I would anyway.  Everything is grist for the mill.  When my children were growing up, some of the stories were written for their entertainment.  Some incidents in my children’s books were based on real happenings.  Kneading bread is another great opportunity to compose an essay or two.  And certainly, time spent in the garden sprouts more than just lettuce.

I’m not sure I could go on from here and justify shopping trips or vacations.  But maybe if I did make a lot of money I could tell the IRS I was doing research at the mall — or I just had to fly to Europe to check out some details of the setting.  I suppose some writers do –

Of course my literary conscience is a lot tougher than the IRS.  I really have to wriggle about to get away with my reading binges.  I owe quite a bit on “back writing” and am likely to be penalised if I don’t get busy.  I ask my conscience humbly not to ban me from the library.  There are some interlibrary loan books I want to request.  And how is my budget, Oh Conscience, on Amazon book orders?  And do I need to buy a new bookshelf?

Actually, I must go out and weed the strawberries.  And while I do so, my mind will be some seventy years in the future and quite a few degrees north at the setting of the story I’m working on.  I am rewriting a bit of the middle, you see — and yes, I think that spin off into Icelandic literature, global warming, arctic archaeology, and a few other things, can be justified.  Maybe.

And on the subject of rejection, I found this prayer by Emperor Ferdinand II.  It was in a wonderful book titled, Seeds of the Kingdom by Father Almire Pichon, SJ.  He was the spiritual director of St. Therese of Lisieux (and of her whole family) so he must have known what he was doing.  Anyway here is the prayer:

“Lord, if Thy glory and my salvatoin require that I become greater and more powerful than I now am, raise me up, and I shall glorify Thee.  If it be to Thy glory and my salvation that I remain in the state in which I now am, preserve me therein, and I shall glorify Thee.  But if through humiliations I can contribute to Thy praise and my own spiritual well-being, abase me and I shall glorify Thee.”

I think I will tape this to my computer.

Yesterday I got a form rejection.  It happens — especially if you are prolific and persistent.  I am prolific and persistent.  But there is always a little black cloud waiting for me to submerge my head in it.  Doubts, questions and the general drivel of an artist scorned.  And then, of course, common sense takes over.

Why am I writing?  Lots of things would probably be more lucrative.  Do I want to be famous?  Well, no, not really.  That would take up too much time.  Do I want to get paid more?  Certainly.  But I don’t want to write the things that get more pay.  I can’t write Romance with a straight face.  I’m not smart enough to write a how to book on anything except maybe taking care of children (or homeschooling, come to think of it — maybe I’ll write that one someday).  So what excuse do I have for wasting my time like this?

Well (emerging from the black cloud a little) I do have a dream.  It goes like this — there is a lot of fiction writing out there.  Most of it is ephemeral, much of it is worthless.  But at least some of it is enduring.  We have good books, even classics.  And I would like to see good books better.  They don’t have to be world-shaking deep but they should be books that build up, however slowly, our crumbling civilisation.  To me, that means Catholic books — not polemics (that sort of fiction puts me to sleep) but books that assume a healthy Catholic world view.  And they should be in all genres (except those where such books would be impossible).  And as many of them as possible should be for children.

It is true, I write books like that.  And they do get published.  Check them out at my book site — http://cdrippe.tripod.com  .  I wish more other people would write books like that.  I have barely touched the surface — family life stories, mystery stories, and science fiction for older readers.  But who is doing westerns?  I don’t know if there would be a doable romance series — but someone should at least try.  And then there are historical novels for children — some good ones out there already.  Sports?  I haven’t seen any.  But you get the idea.  To take what is read and — baptise it.

Anyone doing that?