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This week's Answer:
"Cat-Watching"
Thank you for your poignant question,
Elle. My answer may startle you so prepare
yourself. (You might want to sit down and
temporarily suspend all your waiting activities for the
time being.) No. It's not worth the wait.
But it
is worth the watching
(Let me find a more poignant and
profound font to match your question... Ah, here we go...)
But
It Is Worth The Watching
(Wait. I'll italicize it to
make it look even more archaic and important...)
But
It Is Worth The Watching
(Leaning words always look like they
have something deep and mysterious to impart.)
I didn't come up with this concept
(although, I wish I did. I'd have "Trumped" it and
already trademarked it and made my fortune -- so I wouldn't have to
write screenplays and script consult with clients and I could just sit
around and come up with phrases to trademark). I found the
saying, "Don't wait; just watch" (I think those are the
exact words, but don't quote me) in the film, "The
Untouchables." Sean Connery, as the veteran cop, says this
to Eliot Ness (Kevin Kosner with a haircut) when Eliot is nervous
about an upcoming confrontation with some very bad men with guns and
little conscience.
My dear, Elle, and anybody else who
may be reading this diatribe about not waiting, this is what I say to
myself often, and what I share with you: Don't wait.
Watch. Stay on your path; write what you feel to write; contact
those you feel to contact about what you write. Write what you
contact and contact what you write. (No, strike that last
sentence; I got carried away.) You get the idea. The main
one being to not wait. Just observe what is
happening.
It's a bit Zen, Taoist, Sean Connery.
I think owls may prescribe to the idea. Cats, too. I
mean, think how a cat would act after he wrote a screenplay and sent
it in to a cat producer. Would he act differently than he
usually does and start pacing around, watching the phone and his
incoming e-mails? Would he continually pester his cat
agent? No. Not at all. After he submitted, he'd
simply go back to doing what he does best: practically
nothing. Oh sure, he might sleep a little more than usual since
he might have been up later than usual, writing and polishing his cat
script. He might eat a little more, needing that extra fuel to
push through those tough scenes that don't write themselves. But
he'd never wait. He'd continue to do what cats have done so well
for longer than we can remember: he'd watch.
Okay, he might position himself so
he can keep an eye on the phone.
DcH
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