“If, when you wake up in the morning, you can think of nothing but writing . . . then you are a writer.”
– Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters To a Young Poet, 1929.

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Hi — I’m back. I attempted a day without writing yesterday . . . “attempted” being the operative word.

That’s it. I tried . . . I really did. But the wicked little guy on my right shoulder kept pulling me away from the well-intended angel on my left.

I read for a while, but I’m currently into Alexei Navalny’s posthumously-published autobiography, “Patriot,” and I had to put it down because it just made me want to write more about him and the injustice of the end of his life.

Then I tried organizing my winter clothes and doing some laundry, but my back started to ache so I had to give it up. At least, that’s the reason I gave myself.

I considered going for a walk, but there’s really nowhere different to go in this residential area . . . or so the devil squatting on my right shoulder said as it talked me out of any sort of a healthy activity.

And when I finally sat down, I picked up my iPad . . . checked my email, the weather forecast, and my bank balance . . . and automatically clicked on my blog and began churning out nonsense about guitars, and six-million-dollar bananas duct-taped to a wall, and substitute lyrics for Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.

And I knew I had lost the battle with myself.

What kept running through my brain were those words of early 20th Century writer Rainer Maria Rilke about being a writer. And they fit.

Oh, no . . . I’m not famous; I’m not even published. But I keep writing things: this blog, an occasional satirical poem, even a rough draft of a book. Not many people read what I create, but I do it because of some stupid compulsion . . . because I love doing it.

So when someone asks me the usual question that people ask when meeting someone new — “What do you do?” — I don’t have to say, “Not much — I’m retired now.” Instead, I can honestly say:

“I’m a writer.”

Thank you for that, Mr. Rilke.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
11/23/24