Some things are simultaneously shocking and duh-worthy to me. For example,
each and every time I resume reading a lot, I find endless desire to write. When I am not reading, I am content to forget that I have ever written at all.
So, currently, I am reading all of the Thumbs Up final 20 books. In addition to that, I have decided to use all of those hours that I spend driving from point A to point B to listen to BOCDs. Right now, it is the Kite Runner. Anyway, this reading and listening has roused my desire to write.
This morning, I was thinking about aptitude and how it influences our choices. How someone with an aptitude for science may well become a doctor or a scientist. I thought of an acquaintance of mine who is getting ready to take board exams to become a doctor. Then it occurred to me that in addition to aptitude and perserverance, there are some things that take a lot of patience. You have to sit there and roll with the process however long that takes. Patience. Then I started thinking about my own life and about the areas where patience and aptitude naturally coexist. The answer to that is writing. I believe that I have aptitude in the area, but writing is the area where I have the patience to come back to the computer screen or the stack of papers with pen or with a pinky finger poised, ready to strike, above the backspace key. Writing is the thing for which I can open myself up for critique, then consider and ultimately apply that critique. This thought that happened between the doorway of my son’s school and the doorway of my car thundered through my mental landscape like an aggressive thunder, shaking things. It was good.