Legacies and Legends

Thirty years ago, I was on a date that ended in a rather unusual way.

He’d passed his driving test six weeks earlier, and drove an old white Mini. He was confident, outgoing, and a little reckless. As he drove me home, we took a bend in the road at 55mph, came off the road onto the pavement, missed several trees and a bus shelter before crashing into a tree. The passenger window smashed into my face, and my left foot took the brunt of the impact. I had to hoist myself out of the car onto the ground as I couldn’t open the door. I remember lying there, looking up at the stars having a proper “WTAF?” moment.

The first few years after the accident were the worst, the pain was awful, and I’d get a weird “snapping” sensation in my foot when walking around. The memory of that still makes me uncomfortable. As the years wore on, the pain became more manageable, only worsening in cold or damp weather. Nowadays though, it has returned with a vengeance and is constant.

Pause for dramatic effect: This pain is my legacy.

Sucks as a legacy, right? Well, new legacies can be created.

I think of the late, great Sir Terry Pratchett. My all time favourite author. He left an amazing legacy his fans continue to enjoy, and he is revered as a legend. It wasn’t just that he was a great writer and satirist. He became famous, and used his fame for the benefit of others. His work with the Orangutans in Borneo, research into Alzheimer’s, and approaching death bore all the hallmarks of his wit and intelligence.

Ursula LeGuin, one of the most important writers in the last century, whose groundbreaking novels contain themes on gender and sexual politics, will be remembered not just as a great author, but a beacon to all female writers of sci-fi to break the glass ceiling in a male dominated genre.

Whilst I’d love to reach the same level of success, I have to be realistic. The world of publishing is constantly evolving; the big pay cheques, six figure, five book deals are as rare as unicorn poo these days. Writers have to learn the pros and cons of the business side of publishing as well as actually writing something to publish.

Unfortunately, I am of the belief that because traditional publishing is becoming less and less of an option these days, the opportunity for writers to become recognised as having a significant impact on the literary world is somewhat diminished. Of course, there are plenty of famous authors around, and it’s quite possible that some of them will be thought of in the same terms as Wilde, Hemingway, Bradbury, and Tolkien. To become an essential part of the literary canon.

So, whilst I may not achieve the echelons of legendary status as a writer, having a published body of work out in the world is definitely the kind of legacy I wish to leave behind.