On Writing

I used to write quite a bit. And now I look at financial statements regularly. I would say that I enjoy many things in moderation - which is both a blessing and a curse.

I am the jack of all trades and the master of none. I can make myself appear intelligent in nearly everything because I have gone one inch deep. For example, you may say - "boy, Mary's brother - Tom, knows a lot of banal cliches after reading this" but the truth is that I am pretty much spent. I am just trying to help the team...make that extra pass...do whatever is necessary for this post to be outstanding.

In all seriousness, I find that great men and women tend to be really good at one thing and sometimes two. When I have met famous, accomplished individuals, rarely are they smarter, more talented, etc. than myself. In fact, often they are a bit of a let down - but they do one thing way better than anyone else on this earth. And the simple truth is that I do not. Its disappointing to realize that not only do I not do something better than everyone else - but that frankly, barring a complete disaster to humankind, I probably never will be the absolute best at anything.

However, there is also sense of freedom in knowing that I am a worker, not a master-builder (see Oscar Romero). It is a blessing to know that my little efforts can have large impacts in lots of things - here in my house, here in my community, here in my world.

So, in that vein, my wife and I have both started writing again (and not just this blog). We are both working on books targeted at young adults. The ceiling is moderately high and the competition is moderately low. James Joyce did not write for 12 year olds, and I am okay with that. Ulysses just isn't a very fun book. I am writing about epic cataclysms and plots that are both imaginary and almost unfathomably unlikely - but what the heck, its fun and I think that it may make my kids (and maybe other kids too) have big dreams. So, we'll keep writing when we are not looking at Cheryl's P&L.