It speaks directly to an issue that has come up in my attention several times lately: namely, that writers never stop observing themselves, or making mental notes. Several writers I know have commented that even when they want to, they can't stop doing that.
But that just underlines to me that I am not a writer, and is one of the reasons I no longer call myself a writer. I prefer to be fully experienced in the experience of the moment, and not take mental notes during it.
Maybe it's all those years of Zen meditation, and I don't do that: when I'm in the middle of an experience, my consciousness is not split in this way. I'm not making mental notes about what I'm going to write about my feelings later. Latter, I just write about my experiences, and that itself is another kind of immersive experience.
Thanks again for a great and thought-provoking quote. And in case I haven't mentioned it lately, I love these daily quotes. The always have a lot of meat to them.
This is an awesome quote.
ReplyDeleteIt speaks directly to an issue that has come up in my attention several times lately: namely, that writers never stop observing themselves, or making mental notes. Several writers I know have commented that even when they want to, they can't stop doing that.
But that just underlines to me that I am not a writer, and is one of the reasons I no longer call myself a writer. I prefer to be fully experienced in the experience of the moment, and not take mental notes during it.
Maybe it's all those years of Zen meditation, and I don't do that: when I'm in the middle of an experience, my consciousness is not split in this way. I'm not making mental notes about what I'm going to write about my feelings later. Latter, I just write about my experiences, and that itself is another kind of immersive experience.
Thanks again for a great and thought-provoking quote. And in case I haven't mentioned it lately, I love these daily quotes. The always have a lot of meat to them.