by Marty Coleman | Aug 4, 2011 | Benefits of Reading - 2011, 2013, Jessamyn West |
It’s day #3 of Reading Week at the NDD. That’s my story and I’m stickin’ to it.
I don’t read fiction very often. I usually am reading non-fiction biographies, histories and science books. I recently wrote my first fictional short story, Sunday in Sunrise, and while it had some elements of myself and my family in it, the story was a fabrication, a fiction. Writing it and reading it revealed things about my life that are obscured at times. Mostly it reinvigorated my sense of being positive, loving, enthusiastic and trusting in my life. It showed me aspects of myself that I have been, want to be and sometimes let slide.
Sometimes, when you are in a parched landscape, a story, whether you write it or read it, can help you see what can be there.What does reading or writing fiction do for you?
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by Marty Coleman | Sep 27, 2010 | Jessamyn West |
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I love irony. It’s kept me from being completely depressed and morose about what life has dealt more times than I can count. I don’t know if it came from my parents or somewhere else, but I have always sort of chuckled, shaking my head at the irony of a situation. It’s not that I don’t feel the pain, but I also see the absurd joke that has been played on me and can laugh at it.
A few examples from my life:
- Encouraging my first wife to explore and find herself, only to find she decided she wanted to do it without me.
- Having to leave my first college because it went bankrupt, moving on to a prestigious, well funded college that had no chance of going under, only to find my family had gone broke and couldn’t afford it.
- Moving up in my first job in Tulsa from entry level to Producer and Art Director within 1 1/2 years, only to see the company go bankrupt.
- Seeing the fastest, least sophisticated art I ever did become the most famous and well recognized work of my life (yes, I am talking about the napkins).
For me, one of the keys to enjoying my life, no matter what, is to be able to look back and enjoy the irony and still realize I am ok. The alternative is to be angry or resentful or bitter or depressed. Irony allows me to be outside myself and watch my life almost like a screenplay. I can say ‘wow, that was a funny scene, even if it shows me falling on my face’.
Do you have a sense of irony?
Drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman of The Napkin Dad Daily
Quote by Mary Jessamyn West, 1902-1984, American writer and Quaker. Author of ‘The Friendly Persuasion. It was made into a movie in 1956 starring Gary Cooper and was nominated for a Best Picture Oscar. She was a 2nd cousin of President Richard Nixon.
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