I’ve been watching the Olympics over the past couple days, and I’ve been thinking more about the obsessive dedication that it takes to be at the very top of your athletic field.  I’ve also been doing some reading about one of my favorite rock musicians, Trey Anastasio of the band Phish, and I’ve been recognizing his obsessive work with music – if he’s not working on material for Phish, he’s working on one of his other seventeen projects.  Trey is also inarguably at the top of his field (I won’t suggest he’s the best, but he is among the top).

This is all making me think about my storytelling.  I want to be one of the top in my field, and I find the idea of an obsessive dedication exciting, in an artistically romantic sort of way, but I’m looking at my life and trying to decided if and how I can make that commitment.  There are many things that I like in my life that aren’t related to storytelling, and I like these aspects of my life a lot, but if I am to achieve my goal of becoming one of the top in my field, how many of these can I continue to allow to take my focus?  Could I, as a person, give any of these “other” (non-storytelling) things up?  If I can give anything up, will I be able to be even more focused?  Will I become a better storyteller?  Is it possible that my storytelling might suffer?

I’m not looking for answers by this blog, just putting out some thoughts that have been running around in my head.