Irrational Exuberance!

0. Introduction

December 1, 2007. Filed under writing

Recently, I woke up with the urge to start writing. Often we end up working against these urges, because of our responsibilities. I have so many interests I'd like to pursue, but at some point I have to make decisions about what to focus on.

Its a simplified story (parts of which are borrowed from Mihalyi), to be certain, but you might say that there are two competing resources in what I work on: mental energy, and financial stability. I do much better work when the mental energy flows without coersion, but sometimes you are forced to coerce that mental energy in order to create financial stability (ya gotta go to work).

In undistelled essence, graduate school is the perfect storm between mental energy and financial stability. You have enough money to live off of, but not enough to get distracted by spending it, and you're spending all your time researching a topic of your choosing. Sounds appealing, I have to admit. I may end up in graduate school at some point.

But my real point, is that recently I woke up with the urge to start writing a novel. Its anyone's guess how long that urge will continue, but you can't know how long the energy lasts without chasing it.

So, the pursuit has begun.

When I was in high school I heard an author read a few exerpts from his novel, which didn't leave an impression on me, but the overall style of his book was exciting: letters exchanged between a pair of courting youths. This novel, as well, is an attempt to tell a story through snapshots of times and situations, rather than through seemless transitions from one scene to another.

I'll be posting portions of what I write here. Keep in mind that it is a novel, and as such has no reliable relationship with reality.

We'll see what happens.