Remembering Ray Bradbury
I don't try to describe the future. I try to prevent it. -- Ray Bradbury
I don’t know why he’s on my mind. I thought maybe it was his birthday, but no. August 22 is his day. And it’s not the anniversary of his death; he died on June 5, 2012. His work had an influence on me and I can’t forget him when I think about all the characters on TV who seem like family to so many people, and the flatter TVs become, and the more AI takes hold in every corner of our lives, I think of Fahrenheit 451 where the walls are TVs and the characters in shows, personal friends.
I met Ray Bradbury once, briefly, in the Green Room at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books on the UCLA campus. He was in bad health, in a wheel chair. I asked if he would be my guest on Writers on Writing. He said yes and wrote his phone number on my notepad. He passed away before we made a date (in the early aughts, the show was broadcast live-only on KUCI-FM).
And let’s not forget this one…
I like to remember him like this….
“You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you.” Ray Bradbury
Archived shows of Writers on Writing here.
He was one of my favorite authors growing up.
A bit of his advice from Zen and the Art of Writing stuck with me. He wrote short stories every day and had to submit one to a magazine every week. He said this was good practice, and this is why I write one every month and promise it to my subscribers on Substack. It forces me to write by making me accountable to my subscribers, and I think (and hope!) it's making me a better writer.