The Writer’s Life: The Zen of Writing and Football

In honor of our German site and their fabulous football team (in case you haven’t heard, Germany made it to the EURO 2008 final after beating Turkey Wednesday night) this week’s blog focuses on the Zen of writing and football.

What do writing and football have to do with each other? I’m afraid that’s the wrong question. If you really want to be a professional writer, the question is, how well do you know yourself?

"Every morning I jump out of bed and step on a land mine,” says veteran writer Ray Bradbury in his inspirational book for writers, Zen in the Art of Writing (Bantam, 1992). “The land mine is me. After the explosion, I spend the rest of the day putting the pieces back together. Now, it's your turn. Jump!" Anyone who thinks writing is as easy as picking up a pen ought to consider that statement for a while.

The passion and intensity etched into the faces and expressed through the bodies of the European football championship competitors remind me of the land mine. “Zest,” says Bradbury. “Gusto. How rarely one hears these words used…Yet if I were asked to name the most important items in a writer’s make-up…I could only warn him to look to his zest, see to his gusto.” These championship players, like the best of writers, are doing just that.

In Simon Hart's June 25, 2008, interview with Turkey football coach Fatih Terim, Terim described his tough pack of underdogs as “a team who work hard and believe in themselves. Everyone enjoys watching us – we send a message about life as well as football” (accessed on the EURO website). Turkey lost against Germany Wednesday night, but they “kept on fighting and had nothing to lose,” according to Germany’s Lukas Podolski in an interview yesterday with Matthias Rötters ("Too Close a Shave for Klose's Liking", (accessed on the EURO website). That's the (Zen) mindset of a professional.

Know yourself, trust the power of what you do, and believe in your readership’s ability to “get it”.

Then, go forth and publish!

-- Fiona