Late Night Thoughts from Robert Garner McBrearty 

I woke up last night, was lying there, little to do, you know, listening to my wife breathe, the wind outside, and I was mulling over my life a bit, the pros and cons, and one thought that came, more or less, was: well, I wrote.  Maybe not as much as I would have liked, or as well, but I wrote.

I thought that if it were all to wrap up today, or tomorrow, life that is, I could at least say that to myself.  I wrote. I gave it a shot.

I had a student once I corresponded with for a while.  He was talented, but he hardly ever actually wrote, and I finally said to him: Well, you know, you can’t, and won’t, ever accomplish anything if you don’t actually write.  He stopped corresponding.

Sometimes I’m asked: Do you have to write every day?  Honestly, I don’t think so.  But you have to write a fair amount of days. I’ll leave it to you to figure out what “fair” means, but I think you’ll know inside.

Don’t wait too long.  I always wanted to run marathons.  I finally did, was slow, near the back of the pack, but I ran them.

I hope there’s more writing ahead, something better than I’ve done before.

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Robert Garner McBrearty’s debut novel and third book, The Western Lonesome Society, will be available September 29.