What Now?

by Ann Patchett

I've been a big fan of Ann Patchett's work since I read The Patron Saint of Liars a few years back and it remains one of my all time favorite books. I always find her writing eloquent, affecting and entertaining. What Now? is based on a commencement speech she recently gave at Sarah Lawrence College, her alma mater. She writes, "If all fairy tales begin 'Once upon a time,' then all graduation speeches begin 'When I was sitting where you are now.'" In reading What Now?, its hard not to get nostalgic for your own commencements and that wonderful feeling that anything is possible.
For the author, answering the question "What now?" was often a struggle, as she tried to figure out her next steps following high school, college, grad school, and various jobs on the way to becoming a successful writer (including a position waiting tables at TGI Fridays where yours truly also worked for about a month after my own college graduation. It was one of the three worst jobs I ever had.) What Patchett tries to impart to her audience (or readers) is that the question What now doesn't have to be stress inducing, but instead a way to open yourself up to the world of possiblities and make all your dreams come true. She writes, "What now is not just a panic stricken question tossed out into a dark unknown. What now can also be our joy. It is a declaration of possibility, of promise, of chance. There is a time in our lives when we all crave the answers. It seems terrifying not to know what's coming next. But there is another time, a better time, when we see our lives as a series of choices, and what now represents our excitement and our future, the very vitality of life...If you're trying to find out what's coming next, turn off everything you own that has an OFF switch and listen...Identify your heart's truest desire and don't change that for anything." What Now? is an inspirational read for anyone at a crossroads in life and a great gift for recent graduates.