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The musings of someone who picked it up on the streets.
Why do people read?
It’s more than just the bookend to a my previous question, “Why do we write?” Someone who is going to call himself or herself a writer will ultimately need readers to make that appellation stick; even Emily Dickinson found an audience posthumously. The readers are the customers, the people that pay in the money that make the whole prospect of a writing biz possible. What do our customers want?
I’m writing a rare Thursday blog because I have a rare purpose. I need your help.
As many of you know, I’m not exactly a published author. I write not for money, but for the cheap thrills and even cheaper therapy it brings. Or, as Bleeding Gums Murphy said in “The Simpsons”,
The blues isn’t about makin’ yo’self feel better, it’s about makin’ ever’one else feel worse. And makin’ a few bucks while yer at it.
This time of the year, the holidays bring back memories that allow us to see the world, once again, through the eyes of a child. This is not some sentimental side effect of the rituals we go through, but is in many ways the reason they are important. A few moments spent contemplating this over a swirling mug of cocoa can show that seeing the world through the eyes of a child is actually a vital lesson.
I have been thinking about why people write.
It’s not at all obvious in many cases. Certainly, the vast majority of writing out in the world is done to convince or to inform, the latter often a form of convincing. When a church group tells the world, “We are having our Christmas food drive,” they are informing the world of the project for the purpose of getting people involved; it is an appeal to convince potential volunteers of the need. A grant is a call to elicit money from someone else. Writing to convince makes up the bulk of what is written, and the need is generally obvious enough.
“The Holidays”, that generic term designed to offend no one, are upon us. There are so many things that come in the big package that defines December it’s hard to know where to start. Most people just dive in and get into the spirit of it all. Not me. I like to find amusement in watching everyone else run around. Sooner or later, that means a hard look at the Holiday Movie Season.
Barataria - The work of Erik Hare 