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that you'll dream dangerously and outrageously,
that you'll make something that didn't exist before you made it,
that you will be loved and that you will be liked,
and that you will have people to love and to like in return.
And, most importantly
(because I think there should be more kindness and more wisdom in the world right now),
that you will, when you need to be, be wise, and that you will always be kind.
I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes.
Because if you are making mistakes,
then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself,
changing yourself, changing your world.
You're doing things you've never done before,
and more importantly, you're Doing Something.
So that's my wish for you, and all of us, and my wish for myself.
Make New Mistakes. Make glorious, amazing mistakes.
Make mistakes nobody's ever made before.
Don't freeze, don't stop,
don't worry that it isn't good enough,
or it isn't perfect, whatever it is:
art, or love, or work or family or life.
Whatever it is you're scared of doing, Do it. Make your mistakes, next year and forever.”
{Samuel Clemens in 1867}
MARK TWAIN:
Territorial Enterprise, January 1, 1863
LOCAL COLUMN - NEW YEAR'S DAY
"Now is the accepted time to make your regular annual good resolutions.
Next week you can begin paving hell with them as usual.
Yesterday, everybody smoked his last cigar, took his last drink, and swore his last oath.
To-day, we are a pious and exemplary community.
Thirty days from now, we shall have cast our reformation to the winds
and gone to cutting our ancient short comings considerably shorter than ever.
We shall also reflect pleasantly upon how we did the same old thing last year about this time.
However, go in, community.
New Year's is a harmless annual institution,
of no particular use to anybody
save as a scapegoat for promiscuous drunks, and friendly calls, and humbug resolutions,
and we wish you to enjoy it with a looseness suited to the greatness of the occasion."
Ever try writing outside of your comfort zone?
ReplyDeleteI left my science fiction comfort zone to write a vampire and a zombie book. I'm glad a did it. Neither books were particularly profitable, but it was fun.
Hi, Walter!
ReplyDeleteI wrote a Sci-Fi, BLOOD WILL TELL, and it sold just as poorly as my other books. Really depressing -- thankfully, I enjoy what I write. Now, if only other people enjoyed reading it!
I wrote YA urban fantasy with zombies and vampires. I have written adult historical fantasies.
With THE BEAR WITH TWO SHADOWS, I wrote a Hobbit fantasy -- no urban to it at all.
I wrote a Sci-Fi with cannibals with THE LAST SHAMAN.
I wrote END OF DAYS with a female narrator along the line of PRIDE AND PREJUDICE MEETS LORD OF THE RINGS. It was fun seeing the world through Alice's eyes.
There has to be a fantastic element in whatever I write. I spend so much time with crafting my novels that it makes no sense to me to be uncomfortable while doing it.
Thanks so much for the excellent question. :-)
Oh, EXCELLENT words of wisdom to share! Great finds, Roland. With Gaiman I find wisdom and with Twain an explanation for why January is so abysmal... all these people trying to be GOOD lasts about that... one month. BORING! (but yes, as usual, I will join them)
ReplyDeleteHart:
ReplyDeleteNeil is so wise that I wish he were my email buddy and would exchange emails with me. Or better yet: next door neighbors, and he liked to share morning tea with me! Well, I can dream, right?
I will make a half-hearted attempt at some changes for the better, but habits of long years are hard to break!! :-)
These are words worth memorizing.
ReplyDeleteElizabeth:
ReplyDeleteNeil would be flattered at your comment. He's had a hard year and yet a good one at times. Isn't that always the way?