They Come and They Go

What makes a writer great? You’re going to have to ask someone far higher up on the writers food chain than I. However, if you asked me to take a stab in the dark, I’d have to say passion is at the top of the list. If you’re a lover and user of words, passion has to be the wall behind it. It’s not everything though. For years I’ve had this dream of being a much bigger writer than I am. I wanted to pump out novels like water and flood people’s brains with imagination and horror. I wanted my words to weave tapestries in their minds and create waves of passion for fiction and writing. Like medical school though, not everyone can finish first in their class. For me Stephen King is the pinnacle. Hes the very top of the mountain. Me? I’m at the very bottom. I’ve sold some stories, wrote a book, and have this weird ass blog thing that half a dozen eyes see. I’m okay with that. Finally. Because you see, at some point the minute hand moved an inch and for whatever reason I was able to hold this bird of a dream in my palm and let it go. It’s like that quote from The Natural: “They come and they go, Hobbs. They come and they go.” That’s what dreams do; they come, they stick around for a while, and they go.

I suppose at this point you’re wondering why I’m spouting all this nonsense about dreams. It’s because America was once a dream. It was the golden sunrise in a sky of shit. A land of opportunity and growth. A place where dreams are realized. That dream is all but buried six feet in the Earth. I’m not going to wax poetic on why, if you can’t figure that out yet I can’t rightly say you ever will. But at some point, the minute hand moved an inch and we all decided that it was time to let this dream go. For all the passion and beauty we had, it wasn’t enough. Maybe it was too much work. Maybe we realized that life is cyclical and like the Romans, it was now our turn in the hot seat. Either way, we let that dream go and now we have to deal with that. What dream comes next to take its place? I’m not sure, but if recent history has anything to say about it, I think this one just might be a nightmare.