A Novel Idea

“We must not be afraid of dreaming the seemingly impossible if we want the seemingly impossible to become a reality.” Vaclav Havel

I’m thinking about novelist Jose Saramago today.  He published his first few novels in his 20s and then stopped writing fiction for the next 30 years.  He said,  “That was maybe one of the wisest decisions of my life… I had nothing worthwhile to say.”

At 75 years of age, he wrote his breakthrough novel, Blindness, which became an international bestseller, and a year later, in 1998, he won the Nobel Prize in literature.

No apologies from Senor Saramago for losing focus or not being serious enough about writing to remain a fiction writer for every decade of his life.  He obviously didn’t feel that the three decade span between creating works of fiction compromised his gift or impaired his vision.  I’m reminded of Doreen Virtue’s words:  “Go to your destiny.  Never apologize for being yourself.”

This entry was posted on August 17, 2009 at 7:56 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site.