Excerpts from the essay "Positive Obsession" in the collection Bloodchild and Other Stories by Octavia E. Butler
Page 127
"Honey...Negroes can't be writers."
"Why not?"
"They just can't."
"Yes, they can, too!"
I was most adamant when I didn't know what I was talking out. In all my thirteen years, I had never read a printed word that I knew to have been written by a Black person. My aunt was a grown woman. She knew more than I did. What if she were right?"
Page 129
"An obsession, according to my old Random House dictionary, is "the domination of one's thoughts or feelings by a persistent idea, image, desire, etc." Obsession can be a useful tool if it's positive obsession. Using it is like aiming carefully in archery.
I took archery in high school because it wasn't a team sport. I liked some of the team sports, but in archery you did well or badly according to your own efforts. No one else to blame. I wanted to see what I could do. I learned to aim high. Aim above the target. Aim just there! Relax. Let go. If you aimed right, you hit the bull's-eye. I saw positive obsession as a way of aiming yourself, your life, at your chosen target. Decide what you want. Aim high. Go for it.
I wanted to sell a story. Before I knew how to type, I wanted to sell a story."
Page 133
"Who was I anyway? Why should anyone pay attention to what I had to say? Did I have anything to say? I was writing science fiction and fantasy, for God's sake. At that time nearly all professional science-fiction writers were white men. As much as I loved science fiction and fantasy, what was I doing?
Well, whatever it was, I couldn't stop. Positive obsession is about not being able to stop just because you're afraid and full of doubts. Positive obsession is dangerous. It's about not being able to stop at all."
---
I've been meaning to read Octavia E. Butler for ages. In the library earlier this month her name came into my mind and I finally picked up one of her books, so Bloodchild is the first work of hers I've read. I'm not much of a sci-fi reader, maybe that's why I haven't felt compelled to read her, but I'm so glad I've started to. Woman was a force to be reckoned with.
This book is a compilation of short stories, and I haven't read sci-fi like it before. The autobiographical essay "Positive Obsession" in the end of the book, really moved me, especially as a (aspiring/struggling/nonworking) filmmaker. Film is definitely an obsession for me, and I'd like to think, a positive one. And I'm not able to stop it, nor do I want to. I want this obsession to continue and grow.
Page 127
"Honey...Negroes can't be writers."
"Why not?"
"They just can't."
"Yes, they can, too!"
I was most adamant when I didn't know what I was talking out. In all my thirteen years, I had never read a printed word that I knew to have been written by a Black person. My aunt was a grown woman. She knew more than I did. What if she were right?"
Page 129
"An obsession, according to my old Random House dictionary, is "the domination of one's thoughts or feelings by a persistent idea, image, desire, etc." Obsession can be a useful tool if it's positive obsession. Using it is like aiming carefully in archery.
I took archery in high school because it wasn't a team sport. I liked some of the team sports, but in archery you did well or badly according to your own efforts. No one else to blame. I wanted to see what I could do. I learned to aim high. Aim above the target. Aim just there! Relax. Let go. If you aimed right, you hit the bull's-eye. I saw positive obsession as a way of aiming yourself, your life, at your chosen target. Decide what you want. Aim high. Go for it.
I wanted to sell a story. Before I knew how to type, I wanted to sell a story."
Page 133
"Who was I anyway? Why should anyone pay attention to what I had to say? Did I have anything to say? I was writing science fiction and fantasy, for God's sake. At that time nearly all professional science-fiction writers were white men. As much as I loved science fiction and fantasy, what was I doing?
Well, whatever it was, I couldn't stop. Positive obsession is about not being able to stop just because you're afraid and full of doubts. Positive obsession is dangerous. It's about not being able to stop at all."
---
I've been meaning to read Octavia E. Butler for ages. In the library earlier this month her name came into my mind and I finally picked up one of her books, so Bloodchild is the first work of hers I've read. I'm not much of a sci-fi reader, maybe that's why I haven't felt compelled to read her, but I'm so glad I've started to. Woman was a force to be reckoned with.
This book is a compilation of short stories, and I haven't read sci-fi like it before. The autobiographical essay "Positive Obsession" in the end of the book, really moved me, especially as a (aspiring/struggling/nonworking) filmmaker. Film is definitely an obsession for me, and I'd like to think, a positive one. And I'm not able to stop it, nor do I want to. I want this obsession to continue and grow.
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