Beth Brower's Selected Journals ~ October 2023
semper anticus
The Question Is This…
It is a question I came up with about a dozen years ago, after having a particular realization about myself and my relationship to the act of writing. I will tell you the insight first, and then I will share the question.
There is no wrong answer. I am curious what yours will be.
I cannot remember if a particular event spurred it on, or a simple wander through thoughts that led to unexpected places, but I remember a moment of understanding that if I were in an extreme situation—say, stranded on a deserted island—I would still write. If I were the last human being on the earth, or the second to last, or the third to last, I would still write. I would need to find a way to put pen to paper. Or whatever the equivalent would be. Something in me would still wish to record, ruminate, express, and create story. As I am not currently stranded on a desert island, I cannot say exactly what I would be writing about, but I know something in me would refuse to give up the act.
This leads me to the question I devised as a result of such mental wanderings, one I have since asked a few close friends and family:
If you were stranded on a desert island and could either write for the rest of your life or read books for the rest of your life, what would you choose?
(Continued Below)