You Want to Write That Story?

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Joyce Carol Oates tells a great story about what it takes to be successful.

In 2014, she was teaching a literature class at Princeton University. The group was reading Tim O’Brien’s classic short story “The Things They Carried.”

The book, based on time O’Brien spent as an infantryman in Vietnam, catalogs the physical and emotional burdens carried by each member of a platoon. The story is memorable for how it indirectly conveys the sacrifices made by soldiers.

Oates asked the students: “Would you have liked to have written that story?”

All hands in the room went up.

“Would you have liked to have lived the experience that allowed you to write that story?”

All hands came down.

Oates said you can’t blame the students. Everyone wants to be successful. No one wants to suffer.

Oates told the story in a speech at the New York Public Library in which she made a similar point about William Faulker’s The Sound and the Fury. Faulkner wrote about a persistent nightmare sparked by his daughter’s death.

Faulkner’s “deeply wounded personal history went into the dream. And the dream goes into the novel.” Oates speculated: “If his daughter hadn’t died, he may not have written that novel.”

It’s a reminder of how loss and hardship can inspire great work.

It’s also a reminder that success in work and life often hinges not on what we want to happen, but what happens to us and what we do with it.

BRIEF OBSERVATIONS

MR. MARKET: Interesting data point. Will there be a reversion to the mean?

SOCIAL MEDIA: We tend to forget that social media platforms come and go, which is why I argue that the focus should be on writing online, not a particular site.

ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT: In 1992, at the age of 23, actor Matthew McConaughey wrote a list of his 10 goals in life. Some great advice and no shortage of ambition, especially No. 8: “Win an Oscar for best actor.”

MEETING GOOGLE MEET’S EXPECTATIONS: Google Meet video calls seems to have low expectations for my behavior on conference calls. Honestly, though “Remain stoic and objective” seems like solid advice in general.

HARLEM BBQ: The Popeyes in Harlem has parked a smoker out front.