Last night, I was reading Brother Odd, Dean Koontz's latest entry in the Odd Thomas (love that character) series when I came across this great line:
Humanity is a parade of fools, and I am at the front of it, twirling a baton.
It occurs to me that to be successful, the writer has to embrace this sentiment - or as least risk being caught out front . Without the willingness to occasionally look like a grand fool and the confidence to know you can make it back up on your feet and once again start twirling, the writer becomes mired in a "What-Will-They-Think" mentality ("they" being critique partners, family members, agents, editors, reviewers, and those few who live to write angry e-mails to authors). This is the death knell of creativity.
So have you dropped your baton lately? Will you risk it today?
Go ahead, write fearlessly. You have only a little pride to lose and all the world to gain from it.
Humanity is a parade of fools, and I am at the front of it, twirling a baton.
It occurs to me that to be successful, the writer has to embrace this sentiment - or as least risk being caught out front . Without the willingness to occasionally look like a grand fool and the confidence to know you can make it back up on your feet and once again start twirling, the writer becomes mired in a "What-Will-They-Think" mentality ("they" being critique partners, family members, agents, editors, reviewers, and those few who live to write angry e-mails to authors). This is the death knell of creativity.
So have you dropped your baton lately? Will you risk it today?
Go ahead, write fearlessly. You have only a little pride to lose and all the world to gain from it.
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