just because it made me smile

I liked Nathan Bransford's post today about the fallacies about authors who have made it.  But more than the post in general, I loved the end and feel the need to quote it for you now:

"We keep striving no matter how high we've climbed, even those who have climbed the highest. Pressure can cut into satisfaction, and the spotlight can be uncomfortable.

It all reminds me of the speed of light (or at least my own understanding of the speed of light, which is likely wildly flawed). The way my understanding of the physics of light works is that no matter how fast you personally are traveling, from your perspective a beam of light will still look like it's traveling at the speed of light. You can't travel alongside a beam of light. There's no catching up.

And I think there's actually something great about that. There will always be something to chase, always something to strive for, always another horizon to pursue. Who wants to be perfectly contented? Where's the excitement in that? There will always be something great to chase around the bend."

on racoons and hallways

In a guest post on Nathan Bransford's priceless blog, Bryan Rusell wrote today about revisions through the metaphor of building and then renovating a house. It's a pretty post, more interested in its own metaphor than in saying anything terribly real about the revising and editing process. But I had to post this quote, which I think is the apex of his metaphor:

"Hallways seem to go in the wrong direction. One of them ends inside a broom closet without a light, an albino raccoon hissing at you feverishly in the dimness. Where did that come from? It seemed so inspirational at the time."