Whatever it takes

I have few people in my life with whom I can really communicate about the creative process. I guess that's true for most people, so I'm not feeling sorry for myself, just facing up to the reality of it, that's all. Anyway, from time to time I come across things that set it out for me in language plain enough to stick. One such example was from a 2010 essay by Garrison Keillor, who talked with six students at the University of Minnesota and then wrote about academic happiness. He came away impressed, and also inspired (pretty open-minded of him!), and expressed it this way:

"I left Dinkytown and drove home to Saint Paul, resolved to quit fruiting around and try to focus and work harder and make my time count for something. I'm hopeful about that."

Thanks. Weirdly enough, last night (Thursday, May 5) I found that I came quite close to getting a chance to meet and talk with Mr. Keillor, one of the creative people I most admire. He was appearing in his one-man show at the Palace Theatre in Manchester, N.H. on Wednesday, May 4, and for some reason I felt it wasn't worth going (lots going on in my own life), though I'm right now rereading and rereading his 1991 novel "WLT: A Radio Romance," which I love for many reasons.

Then, at a different event just last night, I ran into a friend whose husband recently served as chairman of the board of trustees of New Hampshire Public Radio. And of course she had been at the Keillor thing, and she surprised me by saying that after the performance, audience members were invited to speak with the author, and she and her husband found that virtually no one sought him out backstage. Keillor was curious about this: "Did I go on too long?" she recalls him asking.

Well, so much for a chance to say hi, tell him I think his writing will endure, and even invite him out to the Red Arrow or, even better, the Red Barn for chat. (What is it with the color red? Well, it would have gone with his shoes.) I find celebrity worship utterly repugnant, so I know it would have felt a little weird, but still it was kind of unfortunate that the chance was missed.

Very weird mood lately, getting nothing done, spinning my wheels. Hoping that a quick trip out to Chicago to see relatives and then a very slow trip back (via Amtrak's Lake Shore Limited) will get me back in the zone. Lots of silent film screenings coming up, too, and not sure how that will all work out.