The Impossible First: Nothing prepares us for the journey

The Impossible First
Colin O'Brady
Scribner
January 2929

 In the book The Impossible First, Colin O’Brady suffered from the cold, infinite whiteouts, and the startk loneliness. And, that was the everyday stuff. One day in particular was hard enough that he thought he might quit. His wife surprised him by arranging a call between Colin and the singer Paul Simon. Like O’Brady, I’m a fan of the Graceland album. I love in particular the conversational tone to the lyrics, as if we’ve been invited into his RV to hear him perform some new material.

Simon for his part during the call was intrigued by O’Brady’s journey across Antarctica. He related that making art “is a process.” Much like O’Brady in the harness for 12 hours to achieve sometimes only 12 miles a day, the process is one step at a time, one word, or lyric, effort, attempts. It doesn’t seem like we’re making progress, but we are.

I enrolled in Story Studio’s Novel-in-a-Year program withJames Klise. We’re working the process, whether it’s art, we’ll have to see.

The call with Paul Simon spurred O’Brady forward, giving him the impetus to continue pushing through. It’s easy to grow weary. Alone under Covid. Writing is a solitary exercise. Sometimes we believe no one knows our pain, despair. We just have to imagine the end, hope motivating us forward.

I’ll leave us with the words Paul Simon said to the artic explorer: All art is about seeing something you’re not sure you’ll ever find, but trying to get there anyway.”

Nothing prepares us for the journey.