David Sedaris and Me

David Sedaris has to be one of my favorite contributors to This American Life. While I have gotten out of the habit of listening to the show, it was my savior last year when life was at its most despressing. I recently learned of his books and in a stroke of luck found them at Costco, my consumer paradise. After having read Me Talk Pretty One Day, I started to wonder, could I write like this?

If even half of his book is true, Sedaris has done more than his fair share of drugs and borders on retarded. While I do not trust in standardized tests, even my own SAT scores did not reveal my obvious brilliance, I just have to wonder what it takes to be a published author. The fact that Sedaris is so successful leads me to a series of doubts: 1) he is not really retarded; 2) he doesn’t really write his own books; 3) the reasons why books are successful is retarded; and finally 4) writing is not for the intelligent.

I am, of course, being a bit facetious when I write all of this because I do, honestly, believe Sedaris is brilliant. Regardless of what any test may say, he has a sharp sense of humor, a way with description and dialogue, and an understanding of what life is really all about, namely the mundane. But as I finished the book, I had a serious conversation with another aspiring writer about what really goes into writing.

What is it? And how do I cultivate it?