Formative Years
The year was 1991 and I was living in Maryland and had just started 4th grade. Little did I know that my entire perception of literature was about to be blown off its hinges by the introduction of Sideways Stories from Wayside School by Louis Sachar. I always loved stories and reading but the books I had come across definitely followed a classic pattern: introduction, inciting incident, etc.
Sideways Stories was different. It was silly and seemed to break all the rules of what I had come across. It also (like so many children) felt specifically written for me and my current time of life. So, I was shocked to find (years later) that the book was published nearly 5 years before I was born.
Kudos to Mr. Sachar who understood that kids need a bit of silliness in their academic lives.
Surprising Depth
But, like any great author, Louis Sachar also imparted a great deal of wisdom in the (impressively short) stories that he told. Silliness, depth, able to hold a young boy’s attention…no wonder the guy has a Newbury.
One of the stories I think about the most often is Bebe’s. A name that I pronounced “beh-beh” like Moira Rose from Schitt’s Creek until adulthood.
*Shrug*
In a nutshell, Bebe loves art and she utilizes every second of art class to produce as much of it as she can, even soliciting the help of Calvin so that by the end of the period, she has completed 378 separate pictures. When she proudly announced this, Mrs. Jewls (as only a caring but blunt teacher can) explains to her that it’s not the quantity of art but the quality.
“That isn’t how you measure art. It isn’t how many pictures you have, but how good the pictures are. Why, a person could spend his whole life just drawing one picture of a cat. In that time I’m sure Bebe could draw a million cats.”
“Two million,” said Bebe.
Mrs. Jewls continued. “But if that one picture is better than each of Bebe’s two million, then that person has produced more art than Bebe.”
And here is the bit that I have thought about even into (especially into) adulthood.
Louis, the yard teacher, spotted her. “
Where are you going?” he asked.
“I’m going home to draw a picture of a cat,” said Bebe. “
Will you bring it to school and show it to me tomorrow?” Louis asked.
“Tomorrow!” laughed Bebe. “By tomorrow I doubt if I’ll even be finished with one whisker.”
As a writer
There are two ways I think about this and the first is how I approach writing. Anyone who has ever written something beyond the length of an email knows that the endeavor won’t be completed overnight. Unless, the thirty page midterm paper you’ve procrastinated doing is due the next day, in which case it will 100% be done in one sitting…so I’ve heard.
But even the most experienced procrastinator among us will fall to their feet at the time required to write a novel (even a bad one). In my early days, I found this to be incredibly difficult, not because I wasn’t working hard or producing good content, but because, at the end of the day, the book wasn’t finished. For my own sanity, I had to adapt and think of ways to make my days feel fulfilling even if the bigger task remained unfinished.
Cue the parable and wisdom of Bebe.
At the beginning of my writing sessions, I would decide if it would be a pre or post Bebe day. Pre-Bebe days give me the freedom to write as much as I can and not focus so hard on the quality. The goal is just to get the story out.
Satisfying quantity but not always quality.
Then there are post-Bebe days in which I allow myself to focus less on the number of words and more on the quality.
Satisfying quality, but not always quantity.
The end result is a beautiful mixture of days that I give me pride not only in the sheer amount of words but how well those words came together.
As a writer on social media
My presence on social media can be described as sporadic at best and neglectful at worst. When you spend many hours a day writing, the thought of doing more can be unappealing.
Maybe it’s true that in order to be successful on social media you need to post 3 times a day at specific times and watch trends and hashtags to make sure your message is current and will catch the most viewers. Dig deep enough and it will overwhelm you.
Cue the parable and wisdom of Bebe.
Not to throw shade at anyone that posts regularly. If you have the headspace for it and it brings you joy, I cheer you on. But I know that such a pace, combined with writing more novels would kill me before any of them reached the public.
So, rather than turning in 378 pictures of vaguely recognizable cats, I’ll add the occasional whisker to the body of work I can be proud of.
If the content resonates, it will find an audience on its own without me getting in the way of it.
March Madness
Is there a prize to the person that fills out their bracket the fastest? Asking for a friend.
An Effort to Promote Good Music
My knowledge of music would bring shame to by wife and brothers who hold such things in high esteem. It’s not as though I dislike it. On the contrary, I love it. What I struggle with is remembering the names of songs and artists.
So, in an effort to reinforce not only good music into my brain but also the artists and their names, I’d like to start sharing more.
Today’s recommendation is Ara Batur by Sigur Ros. I had the immense pleasure of hearing them play live and the only word I can think of that can describe the experience is transcendent. I think of the line in Shawshank Redemption when I think of their songs.
I have no idea to this day what those two Italian ladies were singing about. Truth is, I don’t want to know… I’d like to think they were singing about something so beautiful, it can’t be expressed in words, and makes your heart ache because of it.”
Enjoy.
Quotes That Sustain Me
“Just a dog? Just? Porthos, don’t listen! Porthos dreams of being a bear, and you want to dash those dreams by saying he’s just a dog? What a horrible candle-snuffing word. That’s like saying, ‘He can’t climb that mountain, he’s just a man’, or ‘That’s not a diamond, it’s just a rock.’ Just.”
Words have power.