WHAT DO YOU DO WITH THE SECOND FOOT?

In our high-energy America, we're usually told to "jump in with two feet." Maybe. But on the other hand, isn't it a good idea to use that second foot for other possibilities?

Here I'm think of one of my heroes, John Updike. He always said the writer is never quite "in" the world. Rather just outside it. Observing, reflecting, recalling, composing. That's my second foot, the one which stands just beyond that exhalted "moment" everyone talks about.

For some of us, being-in-the-moment can plant you so deeply and completely into what you're experiencing, you really have no creative resource left to capture and share that experience with others. Does this make a writer a kind of lonely outsider...? Well, I guess. But take it from me -- stepping just outside the moment lets you see and smell and feel something quite extraordinary. Namely the world! The one you love in your favorite books, poems, plays and music.

So, no, don't cry for us if we look like we're "missing the moment." We're just savoring it.