DURABLE POWER

In January, 1981, when I was a miserably unhappy graduate student at MIT, one of my friends dragged me to a lecture by Harlan Ellison. I didn’t want to go; I wasn’t in the mood to listen to some rich, successful writer spout cliches. I was too busy wallowing in my career crisis.

What I heard that night was an astonishing, 3 1/2-hour web of interlocking stories delivered at high speed and without notes, a positive frenzy of communication.

His message was simple: Nothing less than your best should ever be good enough. He was totally unimpressed by the mighty MIT reputation. “What, you expect the world handed to you just because you’ve got a brain? Use it!” he said. “Do something!” He also spoke eloquently about the pleasure and pain of writing. “When I’m really cooking, it’s like I’ve got lightning bolts shooting out of my fingers into the typewriter,” he said.

Since then, I’ve finished my degree and started my own career as a writer. A few times I’ve even felt those lightning bolts. I know it sounds unspeakably corny, but that lecture changed my life. Thanks, Harlan.

LYNN HALL Irvine