Finding Motivation, and Staying Motivated

Two of the essays in part IX of Telling True Stories stood out to me.  Stewart O’Nan’s Not Stopping: Time Management for Writers, and Susan Orlean’s A Passion for Writing.

O’Nan begins his essay with a quote from Joseph Conrad.

There are only two difficult things about writing:  starting and not stopping.

While there are certainly other difficult parts of the writing process, I do agree that forcing myself to write is really one of the more painful parts of the process.

I first started writing when I was about 15.  I guess what I was doing was keeping a journal, but I didn’t really call it that.  I would write every so often, maybe every two weeks, sometimes more time would lapse, and I would write about things going on in my life.  My entries would usually start off with a description of some event, a soccer game, a party, etc.  but somewhere in writing about some event I would usually come across some new fresh almost philosophical idea.

Not that these entries would mean anything to anyone else, but my favorite part about writing was going back and reading previous entries before creating a new one.

I never would make myself write, I would only sit down and write if I had an idea that I needed to put on paper.  But I always enjoyed my own writing, and would find these new ideas other from what I sat down to write.

So I guess there are countless ideas I could have stumbled upon had I forced myself to write more frequently.

Susan Orlean writes about her passion for writing.

Susan Orlean image courtesy of www.susanorlean.com

Occasional discomfort, both physical and emotional, is one of the burdens of being a narrative writer.  This isn’t a desk job.  As much as I might resist getting out there, it’s the only thing that works.  Every time I push myself out the door, I try to remember that there will be a payoff.  Often when I’m out reporting, my deepest desire is to go home.  By forcing myself to stay out there, I usually discover something on which the whole story turns.

Orlean writes about taking pride in her work.  I’ve heard reporters talk about loving being out there chasing a story, being in a new setting everyday.  My passion for writing more closely resembles Orlean’s.  I like reading my work, well I do when it’s good, that’s why I started writing for fun when i was 15 and why I chose to try and pursue it as a career.

Whatever grunt work goes into it, it is important to remember that something is going to come out of it that you will be proud to have your name on.  That is what I took from Orlean’s essay, and I couldn’t agree more.

It’s Britney Bitch

Alright, I went back and forth deciding whether or not I really wanted to write about this, but it truly was one of the more interesting television documentaries I’ve seen in a while. And I am being serious.

Last night I caught one of the many replays of MTV’s Britney: For the Record. This hour-and-a-half special first aired Sunday night, two days before the release of Britney Spears’s new record Circus on Tuesday December 2, the singer’s 27^th birthday.

The special consists of footage from the past couple of months, chronicling the pop-star’s latest comeback, and provides an interesting insight into mega-fame in our celebrity obsessed culture.

At times Britney seemed to be a prisoner of her own celebrity. All of her decisions seem to be made for her, by her father and a team of managers, lawyers, and handlers. I believe that her father may still have some sort of legal mandated guardianship over her, but this was not explained during the television special that produced by Spears.

“Even when you go to jail you got the time when you know when you’re getting out,” said Spears in what seemed to me as one of her more sincere moments.

She described her life as “too in control, no excitement, no passion. It’s like Groundhog’s day everyday.”

But what I found so compelling about Spears in what was supposed to be a true insight into her life, she seemed to be a contradiction, not able to make up her mind. While one minute she was saying her situation was worse than being in jail, she also refused to admit that her life wasn’t normal, and continually claimed she loves her job.

“Normal is different for everybody,” said Spears. “It could be a lot worse, you know what I mean. I think to myself there are people out there who have it a lot worse.”

“I used to be a cool chick. I feel the paparazzi has taken my cool side away,” Britney tells us at one of the moments when she isn’t a pop-icon, but just a girl with a crush. “I miss the days of going out and hanging out with a guy.”

Spears and her choreographer have traveled to New York to see the Broadway musical In the Heights. Afterward two of the actors join them for dinner. Britney likes one of them and spends the evening flirting, giggling, and having fun. As the dinner ends she describes how part of her life is missing. She knows she can’t pursue this guy. Dating isn’t a part of her life anymore.

Britney describes the evening as being like a dream. A dream that you know is a dream, but you don’t want it to end, you don’t want it to be a dream. And then you wake up and it’s gone.

Can someone be oblivious one minute and borderline profound the next? What is normal?

I remembered a profile I read written about her by Chuck Klosterman, and went back to read it. The piece titled Bending Spoons With Britney Spears appeared in Esquire in November 2003 and also can be found in Klosterman’s book IV.

Britney's November 2003 Esquire cover photo by James White

Klosterman describes his encounter interviewing Britney as a series of contradictions. She refused to acknowledge that she was a sex icon, even though she was being photographed for the cover wearing only a sweater that did not quite cover her lower half.

Klosterman says that Spears refuses to deconstruct herself and in doing so achieves a balance that she either consciously strives for or sustains without even trying. She is all things to all people. Her statements on the surface seem insane and superficial, but are also neutral and contradictory.

She’s able to achieve what politician’s spend their careers trying to perfect. A double-speak that seems unquestionably sincere. Maybe that’s why so many people are so fascinated with her, why she is the most famous person in the word, the most internet searched 7 out of the last 8 years.

At the end of Britney: For the Record, the director that we never see but whose voice we hear from time to time asking Britney questions during the interview portions, asks her what she wants her fans to know about her, what she wants people to take from this documentary. After a long confused silence she concedes with a whisper “I don’t know.”

After 90 minutes of telling us one thing, then another, playing the victim one minute, and the girl who loves life and loves her job the next, she has nothing to say. It’s up to us.

It was perfect.

Obama Names Richardson Secretary of Commerce

In his most recent appointment President-Elect Barack Obama named Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico secretary of commerce.

Obama has named about half of his cabinet positions so far.  And sees the secretary of commerce as an important position, not a consolation prize for Richardson who some speculated as Obama’s possible secretary of state.

From NY Times:

“Commerce secretary is a pretty good job,” Mr. Obama said, after being asked by a Hispanic reporter about the appointment of Mr. Richardson to a post not considered among the cabinet’s more prestigious or influential. 

“I think the notion that somehow commerce secretary is not going to be central to everything we do is fundamentally mistaken.”

 

President-Elect Barack Obama and Gov. Bill Richardson (Photo: Alex Brandon/Associated Press)

Media Coverage of Plaxico Burress Shooting

 

A year and day after Washington Redskins safety Sean Taylor was murdered in his home, New York Giants receiver Plaxico Burress accidently shot himself in the leg.

Burress was out with teammates in a Manhattan nightclub when a handgun he was carrying went off and wounded his right thigh.

In the days since there has been much media coverage about the questionable judgment of Burress. 

Plaxico Burress (Jeff Zelevansky/Getty Images)

Sportswriters and former players alike have been critical of Burress.  And I agree he did not act in the most responsible way, but where is the mention of the need of high-profile athletes to protect themselves.

I feel the media coverage shows a common theme in sports coverage.  I find that most sportswriters or former players come analysts foster a resentment towards today’s players and their high salaries. 

Sean Taylor was murdered a year ago.  On September 25, 2000 Boston Celtics forward Paul Pierce was stabbed 11 times in the face and neck at a nightclub in Boston.

I am not saying that Burress was acting responsibly, but maybe the NFL should adopt a program that educates players on personal safety and security.

Burress was carrying a weapon he did not have a permit for, there is no excuse.  But I am saying I understand his concern for personal safety, and wish that someone in the media might also bring this up.