That is the question. Or something like that. If you're anything like me, you might have plenty of ideas of things you want to do, or things you'd like to do, or even things you'd hope to do: travel, try a new hobby, learn to play the guitar, quit your job and live off the grid. And yet for some reason or another you never get around to doing the things you said you were going to do. For me that thing has been to become a writer. The reasons? Too many to count - but a few come to mind. I fear that no one will care what I write; I’m not good enough at writing for anyone to want to read it; there are so many people already writing what’s the point? I’m just one more tiny drop of water in a vast ocean of roiling voices. And so I’ve put it off. I’ve not written. But deep inside I still wanted to be a writer.
Cue this substack. I decided that if I wanted to become the thing I longed to be, I would actually have to write. And write I shall. Letter by letter, word by word, sentence by sentence. I don’t expect it to be perfect at first, and that’s okay. But practice makes perfect and hopefully with each new post you (and I) will notice steady improvement - both in content and execution. I plan on writing a new letter every week (fingers crossed, we’ll see how that goes) covering topics such as literature, poetry, travel, food, and thoughts I have on the nature of things. Expect a healthy dose of Romantic poetry, medieval musings, CS Lewis allusions, classic literature, and misguided attempts at philosophy. I’ll do my level best to steer clear of politics (this isn’t a samizdat after all and I have no intention of becoming a political prisoner) and would direct you to other substacks if that’s more your cup of tea. You’ll get what interests me and that chiefly is culture, literature (chiefly Russian and English), poetry, and the occasional foray into that unfashionable medium, the essay. I may even subject you to some of my own creative writing. I hope these will interest you as much as they interest me.
That’s all for this week. Short and sweet. If anything I’ve mentioned is something you’d like to be a part of, I humbly ask you to subscribe (the free version - no way will I ask for paid) so that you can keep up-to-date with me as I try and become a writer. We might just learn a thing or two along the way. As a teaser for next week, I plan on a short examination of just what makes Seamus Heaney a great poet in my mind by looking at two of his poems that are my favorite — “Blackberry Picking” and “Digging”.
Happy Reading,
Drew