The Myth About Writers
For “The Christian Communicator”
© 1994 By Lisa Dietz
I had always heard that if you became a writer, you could rest on your laurels. This sounded like the profession for me, so I embarked upon a career with enthusiasm. However, after years of fighting with messy ink, blank pages, stuttering printers, rejection slips, and a clogged brain, I found I was neither resting, nor accomplishing great things. Naturally, this made me wonder: what exactly did these “laurels” refer to?
Perhaps this saying, “Resting on one’s laurels” is speaking of those cities in the United States: Laurel, Maryland, and Laurel, Mississippi. Like the horse race that takes place each November in Maryland, I too, found myself running in circles. The town in Mississippi contains a notable collection of woven baskets. Is this the retirement area of blithering writers, unable to scribble out even a single sentence without berating comments from editors?
It can’t possibly refer to Webster’s laurels – synonymous with glory, fame, renown, and praise. When Webster was writing his definitions, he may have had the Greeks in mind, who used the leaves of the laurel tree to adorn the heads of heroes. Clearly, he wasn’t thinking of writers. Let’s face it. Although I may rest against a laurel tree, I’m afraid I would only use the bay leaf, thereof, to make soup.
No, I think the closest of the laurels I might rest upon are the words spoken to the bungler of film fame, Stan Laurel. After reading my last attempt at “creative writing,” all I could manage to tell myself was, “Well, here’s another fine mess you’ve gotten me into.”