Positivity

In a world filled with as much strife and stress as ours is lately, it’s tough sometimes to not become overwhelmed by the negative. It’s even tougher still to actually stay positive. Innocent people are being killed by terrorists, by madmen, by drug dealers, by enraged ex-husbands, and by desperate people of all sorts. Politicians are lying, stealing, breaking the very laws they’re meant to formulate and uphold and acting for special interests instead of the citizens they were elected to represent. Natural resources are being decimated in the name of corporate profit with no concern as to what their rapidly approaching elimination or ruin will mean to the generations to come. Many of our society’s role models are shameless whores and mindless thugs that glorify lifestyles and values that will only further erode our chances of bettering this planet, contributing to its demise instead.

So how do I focus on writing stories that will entertain you? How do I blog about books, film, music, and television when there are so many more urgent things going on?

Well, I’m no politician. And I’m pretty sure I’d be a poor fit for Greenpeace too. What I do know how to do is write. El Mariachi, the Mexican gunslinger hero of one of my favorite films, Desperado, says “You know, it’s easier to pull the trigger than play guitar. Easier to destroy than to create.” He’s haunted by this hard truth. As much as he wants to be the guitar player he was as a youth, he’s grown up to be a killer masquerading as a musician. While he wants to be a beacon of light, violence and loss have turned him into a force of darkness.

I think we all struggle with dichotomy to one degree or another. All of us fight an internal battle between doing good and doing evil. For me, doing evil would be allowing myself to focus on all of that negativity going on around me. Doing evil would be allowing myself to become consumed by it. It’s very tempting sometimes, but I know where that path leads and it’s no place I want to go. For me, doing good is continuing to write, to hone this craft I’ve chosen (or maybe it chose me), and work on creating the sort of stories that will allow readers to forget the troubles around them for a little while. For me, writing feels like a small way to make the world a little brighter even if many of my themes are tinged with that surrounding darkness. For that reason, agent or no, publishing contract or no, big paychecks or no, I’m going to keep doing it.

I hope each of you finds that one thing you can create rather than destroy as well. Nurture it.