“We have to continually be jumping off cliffs and developing our wings on the way down.” -Kurt Vonnegut

In The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, flying is described as throwing yourself at the ground and missing. Isn’t that what writing basically is? Making a ridiculous leap, which is, essentially, something very stupid to do, and, by some miracle, making something other people might want to read?

We don’t know how to fly, any of us, before we start. The only way to learn is to just make that jump.

“I went for years not finishing anything. Because, of course, when you finish something you can be judged… I had poems which were re-written so many times I suspect it was just a way of avoiding sending them out.” -Erica Jong

I really hope this isn’t what I’m doing.

I feel like there is a difference between wanting to put your best foot forward and having the best version of the story possible together before you send it out and being obsessive for the sake of delaying rejection.

“Motivation is when your dreams put on work clothes.” -Benjamin Franklin

That’s what it boils down to, isn’t it? It’s a ton of fun to make up a story, picture yourself winning the Pulizer, pose in front of a mirror for the make-believe book jacket. But then when it gets down the nitty gritty and you realize it’s honest to goodness work, you want to run.

Motivation is that kick in the pants that makes you tackle something as special to you as your dreams and treat it just like you would any other work project.

And lord knows, it’s hard.