A Brief Return

JOURNAL ENTRY #10

 

Having once again returned to my small outpost in these fierce but exciting lands, I feel somewhat divided. On the one hand, I am weary from another long undertaking. On the other, an energy courses through my veins like waters raging through a narrow canyon.

I know that to remain here only briefly, will mean that I am neglecting important tasks that relate to the upkeep of this camp. My author platform will no doubt suffer, yet should I attend to this matter at the expense of producing the very thing upon which the platform relies? Surely I should wait for a lull in the intensity of such production. Surely there will be time in the not too distant future whereby my ability to undertake another expedition will be hampered by a ferocious storm or perhaps a roaming giant.

And yet, as I once again make hasty preparations for the next expedition, I cannot help but wonder whether such neglect will hinder my capacity to continue this endeavour for very long. Without readers, what is a writer? Without an audience to seek out an author’s work, how can he survive the demands common to all travellers of these lands?

I think though, I have made up my mind. The author Isaac Asimov was once asked ‘What would you do if the doctor gave you only six months to live?’ His response was ’Type faster’. This, I think would be the common answer among all writers. Readers – as important as they are – will always be there, and though it may be difficult in these times, I would prefer to rely on the content of each book rather than some kind of heroic revision of an otherwise traditional writer.

So for now, I shall leave rest and reputation for another day. I already feel as though I am fighting time to produce the works I have stored in my mind, I cannot stop for self-promotion. Instead, I shall restock my small pack, grasp my new manuscript and begin my third expedition.