Immortality

© by Gerald So | 5:30 a.m.

My friend Bill Crider died early Monday night, having battled cancer since July 2016. Bill was a fellow fan of Robert B. Parker and short stories and a great supporter of countless writers.

Yesterday at SleuthSayers, Paul D. Marks asked why writers write and publish, wondering if it was to achieve a measure of immortality. Here's what Bill and others had to say about that from a Bouchercon 2016 panel, posted by Lawrence Block:



I replied to Paul's post that I'd like my writing to stand the test of time, but I have no way to know that it will. I only know that if I refrained from writing, wondering whether it would truly endure, I'd have less writing about which to ask that question.

Like Bill, it won't matter to me when I'm gone whether my work endures, but I spend my time writing and seeking to be published because maybe my work will inspire future readers the way my favorite things inspire me.