—SO LITTLE TIME AND WE DO NOTHING BUT COMPETE

…Yesterday I got queried by an editor, asking to see some of my stories for their magazine.  In chatting, I explained to her how about three years ago, after having my 1,000^th story/poem published, I basically stopped submitting because the joy had dissipated.  She said that notion—of achieving something outlandish then “bumping smack up against a feeling of meaninglessness”—would make for a great essay.

I liked her suggestion and wrote it.  Over a thousand words.  It poured out.  It was one of the easiest things I’ve ever written, one of the most personal too, because it’s a subject I deal with all of the time, whether I like it or not: The Thing About Feeling Less Than.

I’ve had my brother and two of my best friends tell me I should get some therapy, one just a day ago.  Who knows, maybe they’re onto something.

  

…What was therapeutic yesterday was playing shuffleboard with my kids.  There aren’t too many things better than that.

Don’t we look happy?

…Here are some things I like on a Wednesday:

-“Tears are the words that need to be written.” Pablo Neruda

-“To me, the greatest pleasure of writing is not what it’s about, but the inner music that words make.”  Truman Capote

-"When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong."- Arthur C. Clarke

-"Wine is sunlight, held together by water."- Bernardo Bertolucci

-"Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts."- Winston Churchill

-"You have to learn the science of your craft. Someone will say, "yeah, I used to read music, but I forgot". Bullshit. That's not the way it works. You've got to love it enough to work for it, you know, and get your tools."- Quincy Jones

-"Those who love deeply never grow old; they may die of old age, but they die young."- A.W. Pinero

-"A friend is one to whom one may pour out the content of one's heart, chaff and grain together, knowing that only gentle hands will take and sift it."- George Eliot

-"Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow."- Ueli Steck

-"Putting on a beautifully designed suit elevates my spirit, extols my sense of self, and helps to define me as a man to whom details matter. Well-tailored clothing is a celebration of precision. When I'm wearing one of my custom suits, I'm in harmony with my highest ideals, my worship of great workmanship."- Gay Talese

-"When nothing is sure, everything is possible."- Margaret Drabble