Justin Cecil's Blog

 I’ve decided to do something a little different with my blog today. Pretty much since I could begin to write and read I have strived to be a writer. The vast majority of my focus and interest has been on narrative fiction (like the fantasy novel I am in the middle of revising) and non-fiction (like this blog). I have dabbled in poetry though, and I am going to share a few of them. I jotted these pieces down on the bus to and from my teaching gig, while going back and forth between looking in my notebook and out the window. Hope that you enjoy them. * * *  The cavemen made paintings on their dwellings of mammoths  antelopes fellow cave people  and their gods. I wonder if they ever imagined  that their work would outlive them and even outlive entire empires  and be admired by their descendants  with a completely different culture and level of technology. Or were the artists of the dawn of time  simply enjoying making their art as they struggled to ...

 I was listening to a podcast  in which cartoonist and writer Scott Adams was discussed. He’s mostly known for creating the Dilbert comic strip, although he’s written several books as well. According to the podcast two fairly short books on religion and philosophy are what he believes that he will be ultimately known for, not the comic strip that he owes his fame and fortune to. So Scott Adams apparently believes that in the generations to come, two of his books will have more influence than his work on Dilbert. I’ve noticed this pattern with many writers throughout history. Some become popular within their own lifetime and actually do well financially, but they believe that they will ultimately be known for something  else. For example, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is legendary as  the creator of Sherlock Holmes.  However, after awhile Doyle grew tired of writing about Holmes over and over again, and hoped that he would be known ultimately for the historical novels h...