Choose Your Boss, Your IQ or Your PQ---Reb MacRath

Say we all contain two sides--the Impractical and the Practical--and they're seldom evenly balanced. 

 

And they're never more out of whack than they are with writers.

From the get-go the pressure's on to give the P's the upper hand: good grades lead to better schools which pave the way to better homes, cars, marriages, credit scores, job advancement, etc. And the debates grow shorter and shorter between such staid P's and wild writerly I's like sexual adventure, wanderlust, wild living, bucking the Establishment, etc. From Byron to Pushkin to Hemingway to Mailer and on and on and on, wild and crazy role models call to us like Sirens. Self-destructive lifestyles still make for boffo Post Mortem book sales and movie tie-ins.

But the publishing industry's changed now. And more than ever IQ and PQ are on everybody's minds. Wild men and women are far less in demand. The powers that be demand higher IQs: media savvy, Facebook presence, fanatical convention attendance, elevator pitch flair, the ability to pucker with a smile while sucking up.

Survival and success in turn mandate an iron grip on such impracticalities as excessive enjoyment of FB and Twitter...travel...sex...streaming...All wastes of time to the button-down minds. But whoa. Hold on to your horses, please.

While I'll be the first to admit that a reduced PQ in my old drinking days set me back a decade, I'm not as quick as many are to call some pursuits Impractical.  For your consideration, I offer my study of Latin. 

I've taken to starting each morning with an hour's study of the Cambridge 4-volume Latin Course. Throughout the day, I'll steal time to draft-translate a couple of lines by a particular poet. This year I published a slender volume of short poems by Propertius. There's a limited audience for this, I knew. But I had a wonderful time and received positive feedback from academics I'd gifted. Currently, I'm at work on another little book--short epigrams by Martial. 

So what, you're right to ask. What has this to do with you? 

Nothing if your PQ squashes every whim or passion that don't translate to fame or cash. But I'm unconvinced that those pursuits really are impractical. For me, the 'crazy' impulse to home-study and translate Latin had been on my mind for decades. One famous writer mocked me, wondering who I thought I was. Again and again, I restarted my study...and stopped. It took so long to realize that nothing is less practical than going to one's grave with a passion that they lacked the nerve to fulfill.

I don't have a crystal ball. My translations may not catch or lead to college lectures. Even so, the daily bouts with this difficult language have been immensely rewarding--and are already translating to sharpened skills in my own writing.

And I think of  others who've wrestled with thoughts of their IQs and PQs.

Claude Bouchard, author of the bestselling Vigilante series, began devoting more quality time to his new grandkids.

Bill Kirton pulled the plug on his popular Jack Carston series, to write a series of demanding--and risky--historical novels.

Ken Follet, the best-selling thriller writer, drove his agent and publisher mad years ago by doing the least practical thing in the world: taking time to write a massive historical tome, The Pillars of the Earth.,

Owen Laukkanen, after writing a string of best-selling, well-reviewed thrillers, lost an agent and a publisher when he began devoting 'too much' of his time to rescue dogs and travel adventures. One day, when all of this comes together, OL will show the industry that he wasn't wasting his time.

And what about you? How have you fared in balancing your IQ and PQ? If the price has been high, is it worth it?

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Welcome to MacRathWorld, if you like premium blends of mystery, action, and suspense. From Caesar's Rome to Seattle today, the twists fly at the speed of night. If you're unfamiliar with my work, I recommend starting with the new Seattle BOP mysteries. Here's the link to my AuthorPage on Amazon for a detailed look at the variety of 'rides' in my amusement park.

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