Impulse

John Scalzi, recent win­ner of the Campbell Award for best new SF writer, has this glis­ten­ing pearl of wisdom:

‘

Yes, it’s ironic that being the best “new” writer is usu­ally founded on years of prac­tice and expe­ri­ence. On the other hand, show me any skilled dis­ci­pline or pro­fes­sion where this is not, in fact, the case. (link)

This is quite impor­tant to remem­ber, espe­cially for those of us nego­ti­at­ing a career change…

It also reminds me of some­thing Brian McDonald said in one of his classes, “If there’s some­thing you want to do, you’ve got to love it enough to be bad at it.” This is the love that gets you through those pre­lim­i­nary years when you’re strug­gling, not feel­ing happy with your work.