My Ace In The Hole As A

'brave' Is One Of Those Words That Has Been Bleached Of Most Of Its Meaning These Days, Thanks To Far Too Many Appearances In The Glaring Light Of Ad Slogans And Corporate Public Relations. I Never Thought About Anything As Brave Anymore; It Just Seemed Like A Flabby, Glib Cliche.

There's A Marvelous Sense Of Mastery That Comes With Writing A Sentence That Sounds Exactly As You Want It To. It's Like Trying To Write A Song, Making Tiny Tweaks, Reading It Out Loud, Shifting Things To Make It Sound A Certain Way... Sometimes It Feels Like Digging Out Of A Hole, But Sometimes It Feels Like Flying. When It's Working And The Rhythm's There, It Does Feel Like Magic To Me.

I've Used Twitter Now And Again To Try To Figure Something Out; It's An Amazing Resource. But I Think You Have To Use It Judiciously: It's A Self-selected Group, So It's Important Not To Start Thinking Of It As The Whole World.

I Would Argue That It Might Be Easier To Endure Loneliness Than To Endure The Idea That You Might Disappear.

You Have To Appreciate The Spiritual Component Of Having An Opportunity To Do Something As Wondrous As Writing. You Should Be Practical And Smart And You Should Have A Good Agent And You Should Work Really, Really Hard. But You Should Also Be Filled With Awe And Gratitude About This Amazing Way To Be In The World.