Kevin Costner’s ‘small’ anecdotes about forgiveness and Hollywood aren’t exactly that small, but it at least comes out to a great point. A lot of us have had those friends that find it easy to blame a large group of people they blame for their ills or for their failures, but the issue is usually with the friend and the manner in which they think. Writers in general can be an odd bunch, we don’t always conform to the way people want us to write, our ideas come across as strange to many when they’re first taken in, and more than a few tend to think that everything that flows from their fingers, be it handwritten or typed, is something worthy of praise.
Let me be among one of the many to tell you, writing is not always as easy as it sounds. Even those that are able to do so with impunity and without the serious migraine that affects others who feel as though writing is harder than running a marathon can come up short from time to time. Either their ego or their perceived level of talent keeps them from moving forward most often and the idea that what they write is some holy text is what allows a lot of them to miss out on any constructive criticism that might help to further whatever talent they have. Trust me on this, I’ve been there.
But as Kevin Costner goes into further description about his friend one can almost hear the argument between them as the friend continues to bash Hollywood and anyone and everyone he’s ever interacted with. This of course didn’t sit well with Costner, who has many friends in Hollywood, and led to a parting of the ways between him and his writer friend. Unfortunately for writers, unless they have a stable job somewhere it’s not the type of job that will be deemed as highly valuable, especially if you can’t check your ego. Eventually the friend came back into Costner’s life and would spend at least a couple of months with him while working on a book. The friend asked Costner more than once to read the book but Costner, already being fed up with him, refused. So the friend took to reading the book to Costner’s three-year old child, which his wife took great offense to. One thing you never do is interact with another person’s children on such a personal level unless the parents tell you it’s okay, so that got him booted again.
When Costner finally caught up to his friend later on he found him working as a dishwasher at a Chinese restaurant and doing okay. Costner finally read the book and found that he loved it. He even went so far as to tell his friend that he would do anything and everything he could to see it made into a movie. And the name of that book, as many of us will recognize, was Dances With Wolves.
As writers, we can be our own worst enemy, but sometimes all it takes is the right person to see our work and be inspired.
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