"Don't work for my happiness, my brothers"
Blazing Reader,
Here's a great quote for New Year's Eve from Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead (which my son and I just finished listening to in both English and Spanish):
"Don't work for my happiness, my brothers. Show me yours. Show me that it is possible. Show me your achievement and the knowledge will give me courage for mine."
That sums up the feeling I have whenever I see someone do something great — whether it's writing a book, tending a garden, raising a family, playing an instrument, growing a business, painting a picture, learning a new language. To some degree, it doesn't matter what they did, just that it 1) wasn't easy, 2) required patience and 3) they found it meaningful and fulfilling.
For example, reading The Life of Pi by Yan Martel gave me the courage to make my own attempt at a novel.
While Much Ado About Corona hasn't sold ten million copies like The Life of Pi, creating it gave me a happiness that nobody could ever have provided me with directly. It took two years of working on it every single day — over 1,000 hours of effort. I didn't know if I would get it done. But I knew if I showed up every day there was a chance.
After all, Yan Martel did it, and all he had were the same things as I: pen, paper, a computer and time.
Sure, Yan Martel had an undergraduate degree, while I have no post-secondary education. I'm also half-blind and have struggled with mild dyslexia my whole life. But I didn't let any of that stop me from writing a 500-page novel that is averaging 4.8 stars on Amazon.
While my goal was to write an entertaining story that would inspire people to stand up against government tyranny, I'd also like to believe my small literary achievement will inspire others to make use of what little time they have left on earth to achieve difficult and meaningful things.
How's that for a New Year's resolution? Work towards something hard that will make you truly happy.
— John C.A. Manley
PS Much Ado About Corona: A Dystopian Love Story may have been difficult to write, but readers often tell me how easy it is to read. For many, the only hard part is putting it down. If you haven't read it yet, why not make that an easy New Year's resolution? You can can cash in those gift cards you received for Christmas and buy yourself a copy at: MuchAdoAboutCorona.com
John C. A. Manley is the author of Much Ado About Corona: A Dystopian Love Story, the forthcoming All The Humans Are Sleeping and other works of speculative fiction. Get free samples of his stories by becoming a Blazing Pine Cone email subscriber at: https://blazingpinecone.com/subscribe/
