FedEx was going to get blasted here and now. This was about a guy shipping a bicycle to me to pick up and ride the Oregon coast. Except it never arrived. It was shipped two and half weeks ahead of time and … he borrowed my bicycle. Shipped it back to me on September 14. It is still out there. So yeah, I was going to unload on FedEx today. Then I remembered the #1 thing listed in “8 Stoic DON’Ts”, “Don’t be overheard complaining…even to yourself.” I believe that to be from Seneca. So much for FedEx and their “delivery”.
Do not use them. Ever.
It seems I have never talked about the six books you can and should write. This was inspired by Anthony Madrid’s article in The Paris Review “Six Books We Could and Should All Write”. This is not a novel or poetry collection, (though you can do that if you can and are up to it) not a compendium of essays (or One Typed Page hrmam, does that count?) Certainly this is not a book for publication.
The books we can and should write are:
* a book about oneself
* a book about others
* an anthology of favorites
* a book about words
* a book of lists
* a book to burn
You all, all of you, have demonstrated the skills to write these six books. Examples of the books include The Diary of Samuel Pepys about oneself (have your writings included life during the pandemic?) John Aubrey’s Brief Lives. Who do you know? Describe them. Golden Treasury from Palgrave is a collection of the best stuff he has read. You can collect your favorites together. There are more things given as examples. Included in this is Sei Shonagon’s work The Pillow Book, a favorite of mine – a book of lists. And it winds up with Li Zhi’s “A Book to Burn”, filled with things you do not want to share with anyone. Burn it first.
OK, that was a brief outline of the books you can and should write. I will go into more detail in pages to come. Think about it. You can.
Really, you can write any of those books.
— MichaelRpdx :: rkmm