Write What You Know-Neil Bartram

[00:41.362]Thomas [00:42.454] [00:43.000]We are gathered to honor the life of alvin kelby. He was my best friend. [00:48.303](he finds a pen and makes a correction.) [00:49.074] [00:51.238]My good friend. [00:53.987]My oldest friend. [00:55.790]My insert-adjective-later friend. [00:57.570](he tears the page from the book and tries again.) [00:58.130] [01:01.787]Hello. My name is thomas weaver. [01:03.126]I'm a multi-award-winning, best-selling author and i have absolutely no idea what to write. [01:08.460] [01:09.618]Write what you know, tom. [01:12.992] [01:15.032]Write what you know. [01:17.464](thomas writes.) [01:17.924] [01:22.187]We met in first grade. [01:28.340]We were friends for years. [01:35.058]Good friends. [01:38.624]Inseparable. [01:40.072](he stops writing.) [01:40.499] [01:41.228]That much i know. [01:44.235]That much i know. [01:46.845] [01:48.377]Write what you know, tom. [01:51.564]Write what you know. [01:53.774](he resumes writing.) [01:54.136] [01:56.104]He was a smart kid. [02:02.179]He was sort of odd. [02:04.588]No. Interesting. [02:05.992]No. Odd. [02:08.414] [02:09.259]He worked in his father?s bookstore. [02:12.454]His father got sick. [02:13.676](he stops.) [02:14.115] [02:15.034]That much i know. [02:17.985]That much i know. [02:21.642] [02:22.534]But that's not the story. [02:25.791]This is just fact. [02:28.539]What was the crisis that went undetected? [02:31.111]When was the instant it splintered and cracked? [02:33.891]What was the moment? [02:36.146]I missed it somehow [02:39.769]And if i could narrow it down to a moment, [02:42.673]What good is knowing that now? [02:45.702]What was my responsibility? [02:48.717]What did i owe? [02:50.641]Am i to blame [02:51.849]For all of the details i?ll never know? [02:57.835]But how could i know? [03:00.760]Write what you know, tom. [03:02.930](he makes another attempt to write.) [03:03.253] [03:04.183]I went to college [03:10.493]Alvin stayed behind. [03:17.332]His father passed away. [03:20.559]I left him here alone. [03:22.773](he stops.) [03:23.187] [03:26.816]That much i know. [03:29.975]That much i know. [03:33.172]Some lives hurtle forward [03:36.185]And some never budge [03:39.047]And sometimes a life takes a different direction [03:41.864]With an innocuous innocent nudge. [03:44.503]Did i do the nudging [03:47.320]When his life careened? [03:50.236]Now how do i bounce through a lifetime [03:52.260]To pinpoint when i should have intervened? [03:55.007]Where is that story? [03:57.858]What should i say? [04:00.674]I've gotta do this right, alvin. [04:03.347]I've gotta find the piece of the puzzle [04:05.940]That brought me here today. [04:12.915](as thomas violently tears the page from his notebook, [04:13.277]The funeral chapel fades and thomas finds himself deep inside [04:13.600]His own mind surrounded by endless shelves cluttered [04:14.455]With papers and books - a lifetime's accumulation of memories and stories. [04:14.911]Seated among them is alvin kelby.) [04:15.275] [04:18.375]What is the moment? [04:21.280]What is the story? [04:24.466]Use your own words tom. [04:27.584]Write what you know. [04:32.999] [04:33.478]Alvin [04:33.734]There's gotta be thousands of stories in this head of yours, tom. [04:36.056]Thomas [04:36.330]Don't bother me, alvin. I'm writing. [04:37.859](alvin looks at thomas?s empty notebook.) [04:38.400]Alvin [04:38.641]No you're not. There's nothing there. [04:39.727]Thomas [04:39.946]Writing's a process. Words are just the final step. Now be quiet. I can do this on my own. [04:45.031]Alvin [04:45.274]Really? And when was the last time you actually wrote something, tom? [04:50.024](this touches a nerve. Alvin starts to collect up loose pages.) [04:50.830]So, here's what we're going to do. We're going to pick a story and you're going to write it down. [04:56.569]Then we'll pick another... And another... And another. You get the idea? [05:02.656]That's all a eulogy is, tom. You tell a bunch of stories, save the tear-jerker for the end and... [05:07.524](alvin places a large stack of pages in front of thomas.) [05:07.885]... There you have it. My eulogy. The story of my life. [05:14.041]Written by best-selling author thomas weaver. [05:16.805]Thomas [05:17.429]You make it sound so easy. [05:19.025]Alvin [05:19.635]Isn't it? Here's a thought. Why don't you begin with this one?