Today I Met A Writer

[DamaNegra]

It was purely by accident. I didn't know he was a writer when I first started talking to him.

You are never going to find his books on Amazon. You are never going to hear from him. He struggled to study a career in Literature, and has been writing all his life. He's a ver cult person, he's read tons. He knows a lot, I was amazed by how intelligent this man was.

He had a horrible job: stand outside all day in the sun (we're talking of a 40°C temperature) and help people park their cars outside a restaurant. That's what all the years of studying and reading got him.

And still, he had a wonderful, easy smile, and got excited about his writing proyect. I don't even know his name, but I'm really happy I met him. His story is one of the saddest I've ever heard. Yet, he's a great person.

Yes, today I met a writer. One the world will probably never know. And it's a shame.

[Mumut]

Many years ago I had a day off from my work on a cattle station and I drove in to Camooweal, an hour's drive away. At the pub was a 'pumper' from Alexandria Station - one of the really big cattle properties. The one I was on was half the size of Wales but this was bigger.

Anyway, I don't know this blokes name. He was an alcoholic and his job was driving from one artesian bore to another making sure they were working. He slept out except the times he was in hospital. And he was a mine of knowledge on books. He was extremely well read. What a sad life. Eventually he just wouldn't call back at the station after leaving for a week in the bush or a group of aboriginals on walkabout would find him dead. But he would have had a lonely end.

[Use Her Name]

There are actually a lot of highly educated, well read people doing crap jobs. I tend to think of the major test of writing as publishing though. Writing for yourself is all well and good, but I really don't think you can call yourself a writer without publishing, because then, everyone who can write is a writer. That's like that dialog I've seen around:

"I'm an actor."
"Oh, what restaurant do you wait tables at?"