Incoming Bytes

by  Raymond Alexander Kukkee ©2013    

I Choose, You Choose

As  everyday writers we may eventually  be offered fame or fortune, by chance or  circumstance.  Failing that unlikely scenario, with writing  we can  conjure up our own personal  delusions of fame or fortune which are unrealistic at best considering there are thousands millions of other writers also hard at it.   Articles, novels, fiction, fact.  Tapping away. Creating. Writing. Getting luckier by the minute.  Inventing the better mousetrap in words.  The perpetually worrisome wordathoner, flash-in-the-panner,  Olympian grammarian, secretive scribbler, and perfect poet, or  comatose competitors.  We see them all. They are us. The great majority are out of luck. Promises of fame that never materializes in the first place or is short-lived at best bears an astounding resemblance to prizes never awarded. Ego-stroking.  Failed dreams. Pffffffft-t.   Writing. Does the fuse burn out? Not to be discouraged, if and when  those images are invariably shattered, we the optimistic instantly replace them with new, better ones,  so we remain upbeat, 'encouraged', 'inspired', and encouraged enough to try yet again. It's called optimism. At times it's nice to dream, and let's face it, we dream big-- sky-high in warm, fuzzy clouds, magically  writing million-copy best-sellers, winning the Giller Award, or heaven forbid, big cash, a Nobel prize for literature,  a coveted Pulitzer for fiction, perhaps the meticulous construction of the all-time-greatest Great American Novel  if we happen to be American. Being that successful  would be a bit much for a shy, introverted nose-to-the-keyboard writer, would it not? We walk the thin edge. Are we afraid of success? How about 'fortune' itself?    I know, let's sell a gazillion copies of  eBooks for $0.25  in Mumbai instead, and trundle all of that eMoney money right down to the eBank. That, too isn't quite as simple as it could be.  Are e-Richer people necessarily happier?   Money provides choices and little else. The fact is, it takes work and choices to determine if the writing life will bring us fame and fortune, or leave us with foolishness and failure.    If something doesn't work,  it's back to the keyboard. Success or not,  foolishness or failure-- writers are a hardy breed; we're not quitters. We are what we do.  I choose, you choose. ##   Is that Incoming I hear? .