Most of my writing, with the exception of my poetry, occurs in the morning. It’s when my mind makes better connections. The words come more easily and aren’t weighted with the cares of the day.
Writing Life
I’m a Work in Progress
There has never been the slightest doubt in my mind that the God who started this great work in you would keep at it and bring it to a flourishing finish on the very day Christ Jesus appears.
– Philippians 1:6 (The Message)
Forget the Rules
When you start out on a career in the arts you have no idea what you are doing. This is great. People who know what they are doing know the rules, and know what is possible and impossible. You do not. And you should not. – Neil Gaiman, “Make Good Art”
Quality Work Takes Time
Nobody – not even the prodigies – awakes one morning and finds that they’re capable of doing quality work. The prodigies may have a head start with talent, but every one – every one – has to put in time and effort. They have to do the work, and they have to do it with love, attention, and consistency.
Fast, Cheap, or Good
According to tradition, you can have work that is fast and cheap, cheap and good, or fast and good. You cannot, however, have work that embodies all three traits. Something is necessarily lost in seeking one of the attributes.
Love, Attention, and Consistency
If you want to get better at what you do, you have to have three qualities: love, attention, and consistency. If you want to meet the goals you’ve set, you need the same three things. If you want someone to know you care for them, you also need those three things. You have to give that person love and attention and do so with consistency.