Hear the Dying Mountaineer: Advice for Writers Struggling to Act

The wind howled all night long. It swept along the naked mountainside, tearing at the tiny orange tent set amidst the towering rock and snow.

Inside, a man lay shivering, squeezing his mittens together. His knees knocked painfully against each other as he gasped thirstily for breath, but each lungful of the thin and frigid air was not enough. Gazing at the rattling tent poles above, he wondered if this night would be his last. Men had died in lesser trials, and the elements seemed viciously desperate to smother his spark. As the light faded, he forced himself up onto a shaky elbow as a thought seized him. It was of a lonely writer in a distant land who was seated shiftlessly at his desk, nibbling the end of a pen as he stared into an empty page. His thoughts had gone a hundred places except to the purpose before him.

If you are that writer, have the courage to lean in towards this man about to speak.

With streams of tears running from his eyes, now red and smarting from the glary ice, the mountaineer peers through time and space, through a portal of existence straight at you. He craves the audience of your ears. Now sputtering, he speaks.

“Look here, lad. It’s all over with me. My feet are finished, my lungs can’t hold the air. I can count the breaths that will show me out of this world. Is there anything I regret? Yes! Plenty. I would hold my wife again, sigh out the loving sentiments that we so often shared in happier days. But that has had its time. Now I must go. I am here because I wanted to be. I never paused at the danger or dwelt upon the uncertainties. Life is too short for it. If you have chosen to write, then place one word before the next, string sentences across a page and fill the margins however close or wide! It is like me, placing each determined footstep past the last. Do I always think as I go? No, I am moving. Over a crevasse or bare ridge of snow, sure, I sink to my knees and even crawl along. But never do I cease a motion that takes me to the top. For you it must be likewise. Do not rest, until your time has come.”

Why are you writing? To develop the habit and improve upon it. Then do.

You will not get anywhere by keeping company with aimless distraction. Set your mind to the task by deciding first what it is you wish to say. Then in the simplest manner speak your intentions. Time is of the essence here — each day that you let by without progress narrows the window of opportunity that you can uncover your potential and let it all out. Even if you are unsure where you are heading, keep moving and adjust the direction as need be. But by keeping still, you will freeze to death.

Actions for today:

• Decide what needs to be done

• Define the first task

• Get started

• Put in a decent effort and review your progress

• Turn in for some well-deserved rest, and plan for the same tomorrow