Friday Five: Remembering Ray Bradbury

I was planning on posting something yesterday, but the cosmos decided otherwise.  Wednesday was a tough day for me, and I spent all day Thursday trying to make up for it.  I had a major migraine, which was tough enough, but then my laptop's charger decided it wanted to stop working.  I had it plugged in and went to typing away and all of a sudden, I get a warning memo that I had less than 10% battery power!  I may have said a few words that I normally hate to say (and probably a few I love, like "frak" - oh, BSG), but for the most part, I surprisingly kept my cool.  I ordered a new one and now, I'm pleased to announce that I'm back at 100% power!  For now, anyway.  I'm afraid to do too much bragging.

Another thing that made Wednesday tough was the news that Ray Bradbury passed away the night before.  I think, on some level, we're all familiar with his work, even if it's only because you watched the Twilight Zone episode of "I Sing The Body Electric."  That, I think, was my first experience with Ray Bradbury's work, but it was most definitely not my last.  Although I never thought much of it until my first (and currently only) visit to the haven of all things geek - Comic Con International.  I was completely in love with everything there and I was determined to get into every possible panel that suited my fancy.  But it was the Bradbury panel that I stumbled into completely by accident.

I remember listening to his biographer and the other panel members discuss his work and his extensive contributions.  It was inspirational and though I'd come to the room because of what was going to be in the room after the panel (I can't remember what it was now - Human Target, perhaps?  Maybe Vampire Diaries?), I was truly in tears after it was over.  That was when I knew what I was supposed to be doing with my life.  Funny how a chance event can completely change your way of thinking.

My heart broke Wednesday morning, because I will never again get the chance to tell Mr. Bradbury how his accomplishments - his words - changed my life.  But he will never be forgotten and every day I write, I'm reminded of sitting in that room in a crowd of people, watching in wonder with tears in my eyes as I listened to people singing the praises of a man who deserved just that.  All of the praise in the world.

Now, instead of answering five random questions for a Friday Five, I'll leave you with five quotes worth remembering if you're a writer, all from Mr. Bradbury himself.  And just for a hint of trivia: did you know that he never had a driver's license?

• “I have never listened to anyone who criticized my taste in space travel, sideshows or gorillas. When this occurs, I pack up my dinosaurs and leave the room."

•  “You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you.”  

•  “If you want to write, if you want to create, you must be the most sublime fool that God ever turned out and sent rambling. You must write every single day of your life. You must read dreadful dumb books and glorious books, and let them wrestle in beautiful fights inside your head, vulgar one moment, brilliant the next. You must lurk in libraries and climb the stacks like ladders to sniff books like perfumes and wear books like hats upon your crazy heads. I wish you a wrestling match with your Creative Muse that will last a lifetime. I wish craziness and foolishness and madness upon you. May you live with hysteria, and out of it make fine stories — science fiction or otherwise. Which finally means, may you be in love every day for the next 20,000 days. And out of that love, remake a world.” 

•   “Find out what your hero or heroine wants, and when he or she wakes up in the morning, just follow him or her all day..” 

•  “You fail only if you stop writing.”