GW, I think you spoke a whole mouthful there. You know, it's funny, but guys who spend a lot of time afield likely get hooked on it very early in life, and just can't quit. They'll neglect to get schooled well, often, and thus aren't the greatest writers around, so it's hard to interpret what they mean by what they say sometimes. Funny how that works, ain't it?
It's actually pretty darn rare to have doers and writers be the same person. O'Connor, for instance, was probably one of the best gun writers of all time. Really good writing of ANY kind is a combination of many things, and there's a darn good REASON that we lift up such writers as Hemingway to such lofty positions of honor. Largely, too, it's an acquired talent, and much training and experience doing it is required to become really good at it. Only the virtual savants, who come by the talent "naturally" seem to have it flow from them like water. Music's the same. Ain't many Stevie Ray Vaughns or Dwayne Almans.
I have to say that, though it's taken a long time to discern what's meant by what was said, some of the best "learning" I've done has come from guys who were doers, but had poor teaching or even basic communication skills. Mostly, I've let experience teach me what they meant by what they said.
To plunk some quarters down for a glossy mag, the thing has to have nice pics to catch my eye, good titles to make me read the first paragraph, and a good first paragraph to make me read the whole story. We're always in a hurry today, and only what reaches out and grabs you gets noted.
Good writers are not too rare, but great ones ARE. I put ol' Ross in the "very good" category, but you often had to have some interest in the stuff he wrote about, so he'd never be as much of a general draw as someone like O'Connor, who was much more populist in his pursuits, hunting deer more than anything, but loving the bigger stuff enough to teach us dumb country boys to love it too.
Bottom line is, business is business, and I've come to trust MD enough to know that if he says there was a reason for the rift, then there was a reason, and it's just none of my business what it was. I can deal with that. Yeah, I miss Ross, but I'll live, and I wish him well. Same for Rifle and Handloader, too. I wish it were different, but it aint', and something tells me Ross did indeed burn his bridge, so I'll keep reading and hoping a really good replacement comes along.
And I'll keep listening closer and closer to some of those folks I know that many laugh at for their disabilities, rather than for their abilities and knowledge. Funny how it all works, ain't it? Sometimes you find Truth in the STRANGEST places!
