A STORY TO WRITE

I love writing my scripts because it allows me to put down on paper a complete story pretty quickly. For those of us writers who have lots of ideas, it is sometimes heartbreaking to realize that many of these stories will not be written down, only because there is no time. A script, because of its structure, layout and style that is clearly defined from beginning to end, serves my purpose and need of writing as many stories as possible, from the unending stream of ideas that pop up inside my brain.

THE STRUGGLE WITHIN

But I also possess a list of stories to write, hopefully in the near future, that must be written down in a book format. These are the stories that require and demand a greater amount of time and focus. I don´t know how you - other writers - feel about this, but these are those moments that give you a different insight, a deeper understanding and perspective about life, about who you are as a human being. Moments and events that completely obliterated the old you, and that as you go through them and overcome them - if that´s the case - you know for a fact that now you are a different being. At that moment, you can contemplate that old self and feel a little sadness as he stares naively at you as you proceed forward, for now you have reached a different level of understanding life, of who you are, of your place in it. These stories demand time, and the struggle required to go through pages and pages of soul searching, and a definite commitment of being there for them, because at that point you have to take care of them, you must analyze them for the ultimate benefit of your own personal growth.

THE EVENT

I have one of my own. The event began in 1990. The Gulf War. I had just finished my university studies, but before I took one of the - in my young mind - ´boring jobs´ offered by an accounting firm, I decided to join the army. Why? I wanted my MBA. The Army offered it for free. But that wasn´t all. There was also someone called Hemingway, and cursed be the day when I first read him (The Sun also Rises) and felt inspiration beyond anything until then. As I investigated his life I found this quote from him, ¨In order to write about life first you must live it.¨

Son of a bitch! I believed his words! So I thought, ¨great, I finished my degree. Good. You are an accountant now. Now what? Get a job? Take the train, go to work everyday? Get married? Get a family?¨

But always, way back there, deep in my mind, there they were; Hemingway´s words, his thoughts, his advice. ´You wanna write Diego? Live life, my brother.´ That did it. I went to the army office and signed up, a few months before I finished the University. It might´ve been May 1990.

GULF WAR

I was right in the middle of Basic Training, somewhere in Kansas - I don´t want to remember where, but it had something to do with a ´Little Apple´. 🤣😂 - when our Drill Sergeant told us, during our morning PT, at 5AM, that Sadam Husein had decided to invade Kuwait. What?! No, no. This can´t be happening. The geopolitical structure of the world was at that moment... bening, peaceful, completely different, at all levels.

In June 1987, Reagan gave his memorable ¨tear down this wall.¨ speech. Two years later The Berlin Wall had fallen, the Soviet Union was collapsing. I felt there was no threat to this world, not in the immediate future. I had done my projections. Then, what the hell was this? My calculations were; 2 years in the Army, get as many credits for my MBA as I could, travel with the Army, get in shape, learn how to shoot, become a badass, and then go back to New York and start to work. Well, that plan went to hell quickly. By January 1991 I was on my way to Irak on a chartered TWA flight. God damn it, Hemingway!

A man from another era. He wasn´t perfect, not at all. But almost the perfect writer.

Anyway, it happened. And because of it, I have an incredible story to write. A wonderful, funny, romantic, fearful, emotional story to tell. A story that changed me, that altered my life, that threw me into a different and unexpected path that I am still trying to figure out. Maybe writing it after 30 years of keeping it deep inside, will be the way to reach my next level of writing, of expressing myself, that I am looking for. This is what I will be involved with in the near future. I hope.

Thanks ´Papa´ Hemingway.

And thanks to all of you for reading. I will keep you posted.