{"id":6604,"date":"2018-03-18T14:58:06","date_gmt":"2018-03-18T19:58:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.robertxgillis.com\/?p=6604"},"modified":"2018-03-18T15:31:34","modified_gmt":"2018-03-18T20:31:34","slug":"zen-and-art-of-writing-op-eds-i-still-have-a-lot-to-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.robertxgillis.com\/?p=6604","title":{"rendered":"Zen and Art of Writing Op\/Eds &#8211; I still have a lot to say!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>by Robert Gillis<\/em><br \/>\n<em>Published in the Boston City Paper, 3\/2018<\/em><\/p>\n<p>While Op-Ed pieces are by their very definition a personal opinion, I hope you will indulge this oddly self-serving personal piece from me.<\/p>\n<p>Recently I have been doing some soul searching (as part of one of my countless mid-life course corrections).&nbsp; When you reach my age (ahem, mid-twenties, give or take) you realize that your TIME is precious.&nbsp; I\u2019ve been bouncing around the idea in my head of what to stop doing, what to say no to, or, as advised by Henry David Thoreau, \u201cSimplify, Simplify.\u201d&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>For the last months I\u2019ve been considering stopping the op-eds (no one suggested that but me, to myself) but I began to consider, should I stop doing it?&nbsp; &nbsp;After all, it\u2019s been 22 years.<\/p>\n<p>Then two things happened:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>I considered \u2013 really thought about it daily &#8212; how much WRITING is part of ME. If you asked me, at my core, what I am &#8212; \u201cA writer\u201d would be one of the five things I would list.&nbsp; I have been writing since I was a kid.&nbsp; I have always been writing; it\u2019s in my DNA; I love it.&nbsp; I re-read \u201cZen and the art of writing,\u201d and remembered how much Bradbury\u2019s passion for writing resonated in my own soul.&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;I remembered the times I have had ideas where I have literally raced home to get them onto paper, and I have jotted down notes on dinner napkins and scrap paper to not forget a thought.&nbsp;&nbsp; The happiness at getting a story or idea out of me and into the world \u2013 long story short, I NEED to write.<\/li>\n<li>During that same time period, after the dearth of any sort of feedback, nearly a dozen different people (really!) brought up that they liked something I wrote recently, In one case, someone I have not seen in ages walked over to me at a store and said he just wanted to tell me how much he enjoyed my last piece. I was amazed.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Coincidence?&nbsp; Maybe the universe was trying to tell me something?&nbsp; Whatever it was, the timing was perfect for me to see that I\u2019m still getting a message across to people.&nbsp;&nbsp; That the work has value.&nbsp; Even a small value.<\/p>\n<p>Which brings me to frequency &#8212; &nbsp;&nbsp;you may have noticed that the banner at the end of my op\/eds has changed from \u201cregular\u201d to \u201coccasional\u201d contributor \u2013 that is accurate, and deserves an explanation.&nbsp; &nbsp;Why does Bob, who never shuts up, write less these days?&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Since 1996, I made an effort to get a get in a piece about every two weeks, and was successful in that endeavor for about 10 years.&nbsp; I wrote about everything &#8212; stories of my life, new experiences, and organizations making a difference in the community, local heroes, my church and faith, events that moved me, current events, and so much more.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Around 2006 or so, my \u201cevery two weeks\u201d became more like every three weeks.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>This was not due to lack of material, nor writer\u2019s block, but a conscious effort on my part to submit (what I considered, anyway) to be worthwhile material or what passed my own test of quality.&nbsp; No longer would I write just to fill space, or to comment on benign matters (op\/eds about the new trash sticker program).&nbsp;&nbsp; God rest his soul, my dear friend Bob Shea once commented how unimpressed he was at my op\/ed that water conservation in summer was a good idea.&nbsp; I had to agree!<\/p>\n<p>So I began a process of writing when I was MOVED to write, or when an idea was bursting out of me.&nbsp;&nbsp; I write when I have something to say.&nbsp; It might be a need to share humor in dark times, to comment on a specific event, or to celebrate a personal\/family milestone, to share the story you have not heard, give you MY take on something, or speak about happenings in our home town.&nbsp; It\u2019s what I feel I need to say, or something that needs to be said.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_4433\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-4433\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.robertxgillis.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/RobertGillis1985.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-4433\" src=\"http:\/\/www.robertxgillis.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/RobertGillis1985-300x267.jpg\" alt=\"Portrait of the geek as a young man: Author Robert Gillis hard at work writing, 1985.\" width=\"300\" height=\"267\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.robertxgillis.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/RobertGillis1985-300x267.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.robertxgillis.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/RobertGillis1985.jpg 601w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-4433\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Portrait of the geek as a young man: Author Robert Gillis hard at work writing a story on his trusty TI-99 4\/a computer, 1985 &#8211; doing what I loved, then and now..&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>I always said I\u2019d it for free, and these days, I DO write these for free \u2013 it\u2019s not for the money \u2013 it\u2019s because I NEED to WRITE \u2013 and it\u2019s a joy to share that writing publicly.&nbsp; And I plan to keep doing it.&nbsp; As long as the Foxboro Reporter and its staff will have me, and as long as I have something to say, I plan to keep doing it.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; But I\u2019d rather give you my best (or best effort) than filler, so that\u2019s why you don\u2019t see me as often here.<\/p>\n<p>If I can get in a piece even monthly that means something, shares a story, that will make you think, make you laugh, make you angry, or perhaps look at things in another way, then I have done the job.&nbsp;&nbsp; I will try to do better than once a month, but I am promising once a month going forward.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Wrapping this one up, I would also encourage YOU to start submitting pieces to this paper.&nbsp;&nbsp; The articles that a high student wrote about the Florida school shooting, as well as the terrific piece by a local resident about the fire station, are two perfect examples of well-written, well thought-out pieces that made me think in a different way and I enjoyed reading.&nbsp; And then a resident wrote a thoughtful response to one of THOSE pieces \u2013 excellent!&nbsp; We need more of that.&nbsp; We need more residents to write here.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;Your ideas should not be confined to a social media post.&nbsp; Write them HERE where 5000+ people can read it in the paper of record for your home town.<\/p>\n<p>Ideas for my next few columns are already percolating as I write this, there\u2019s a LOT going on that I need to talk about here &#8212; but I thought it was a time to clarify why you don\u2019t see me in these pages as often as before, and what convinced me to keep going.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>With that said, I will end this one with, talk to you again very soon!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by Robert Gillis Published in the Boston City Paper, 3\/2018 While Op-Ed pieces are by their very definition a personal opinion, I hope you will indulge this oddly self-serving personal piece from me. Recently I have been doing some soul searching (as part of one of my countless mid-life course corrections).&nbsp; When you reach my [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6606,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[158],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6604","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gratitude-and-giving"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.robertxgillis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6604","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.robertxgillis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.robertxgillis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.robertxgillis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.robertxgillis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6604"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.robertxgillis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6604\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.robertxgillis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6606"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.robertxgillis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6604"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.robertxgillis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6604"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.robertxgillis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6604"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}