Not a Winner.

Flannery O’Connor said something once that struck deeply but which I can never quite remember. It was something along the lines of, “ I sit down at my typewriter everyday not because I am inspired everyday, but because I want to be ready in case inspiration comes.”

I’m sure she said it better, but you get the idea. Well I have been trying to remind myself of that lately and so here I sit at my little white desk with my little black laptop … waiting. Well, I have to be honest with you folks, I do not think that tonight is going to be a winner. I’m tired and still a touch sick, though I did go running tonight. It was very, very cold and it wasn’t my best run, or my longest run or my fastest run, but it was a run. So I’m proud of myself in the tiniest sort of way. And I’m looking forward to a good, deep sleep tonight; my body is tired in a good way and that always makes for a good sleep.

Since I am all tuckered out tonight and can’t exactly remember that Flannery O’Connor quote, here is one from the inimitable John Hodgeman:

Stories hold power because they convey the illusion that life has purpose and direction. Where God is absent from the lives of all but the most blessed, the writer, of all people, replaces that ordering principle. Stories make sense when so much around us is senseless, and perhaps what makes them most comforting is that, while life goes on and pain goes on, stories do us the favor of ending.

That’s deep, right? Well, keep in mind that he is one of the most brilliant living absurdists and also said, “A stopped clock is correct twice a day, but a sundial can be used to stab someone, even at nighttime.”

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