Style

Do you ever wonder if you've being heard? Your words are tossed into a void, maybe never to be acknowledged. As a writer I'm supposed to expect rejection - it comes with the territory. I don't mind my voice getting lost in the shuffle, it's not a totally-unknown possibility. That sounds really whiny, but that's just how it is. Sometimes the answer is "no." Get over it.

So when I get a written response from one of my major influences....O_o

After almost three months, I got a response from Terry Jones, one of the surviving members of Monty Python. If you know anything about me, you'll recall that I'm a Python NUT. And I am sitting six inches away from a note from Terry Jones. Hand-written. Personal. International stamp.

This is a big deal.

I wrote to him when I decided to write my literary analysis criticism on "Life of Brian." And I was pretty sure my letter had gotten lost in the heaps of mail that he no doubt receives. I've written to celebrities before - almost seven years and no response from Geoffrey Rush. (Kevin McNally did write back. And I got a mass-produced autographed picture with a note "from the office of Keira Knightley." But that's another story.) Every now and then I wondered about it, but I wasn't too bent out of shape over it. So to receive something back from him...I nearly passed out when I pulled the letter from my mailbox.

I quote:

 

Thanks so much for your wonderful letter. It's good to know that something we've done is still having some effect! I hope you continue to be independent and thoughtful!

 

Looking at it five hours later still makes me light-headed.

 

It's a vicious cycle, really. He knows his work is still appreciated by a generation whose parents were children when Python was first popular, and I know my letter wasn't totally ignored. And how fitting to get it today, after I've finished the second draft of my "Life of Brian" paper? Python has been such a crazy influence in my life over the past year, and to get that well-wish from one of my idols (meant in an iconic and not religious way - I know actual idols are bad)....my life has been made.

 

Now back to the reality that my paper is due in a week (among so frickin' many other things) and is still only in the drafting stage. Actually I'm really proud of the work I've done in only about three weeks. My goal was to find a middle ground between the Pythons and religion, and I think I've done a fairly decent job. But lest we bask too long in that knowledge, just remind yourself: it ain't done yet.

 

Tonight Mr. Jones' letter lies as a bookmark in my journal, like a little whisper reminding me that it's good to think outside the box (or, in my case, the Bubble).

 

~

 

Your words are worth-while. Write on.

-Arbor Brannagh