Page 178 - Hypnotic Writing - How to Seduce and Persuade Customers with Only Your Words

What I Learned from Th
e Sea Wolf
owned boats, wrote of his travels, and lived life to its fullest. One of my favorite quotes is this:
I would rather be ashes than dust!
I would rather that my ashes should burn out in a brilliant blaze than it should be stifled by dry rot.
I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet. The proper function of a man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste my days trying to prolong them. I shall use my time.
—Jack London
No wonder he was dead by the age of 40. He lived a hard, active, wild life, and regretted none of it.
You can imagine my thrill when I went to the Jack London Ranch outside San Francisco at the end of 2000. I went to San Francisco to be interviewed on a new television show. While there, I rented a car and headed out to Jack London country.
I went to his famous home, too, called Wolf Mansion. I walked around what was left of it anyway. It had burned nearly completely to the ground before London ever got to move into it.
And I went to London’s grave. He was cremated and put under one of the giant volcanic red boulders on his property.
I also went inside a museum on the property, now part of the California parks system, and saw an old movie with Jack London in it. It was, of course, a black and white film, a silent one, but Jack London’s smile lit up the frames. It was incredible to see this hero of mine so obviously alive, to realize he had indeed once lived and walked the earth, just like you or me.
What I learned from Jack London’s writing, and especially from The Sea Wolf, was to keep readers hooked by not giving them an ending to something you know they wanted to see resolved.
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