I recently read a story about a journalist whose name I unfortunately don’t remember (gah!). He did poorly in high school. He then failed out of a writing course in community college, and got a C the second time around. In time, he became a writer and won a Pulitzer. Similarly, Larry David worked at SNL for a year, and during a whole season only one of his sketches aired. Today, people hail him as a creative genius.
Sometimes, it’s difficult to imagine a bright future. But, as someone recently pointed out to me, every successful person was told at one point that he/she couldn’t do it. After all, opinions are like assholes; everyone has one. Some people defecate in inappropriate places. Trust me; I work at a pool.
Sometimes, it’s hard to attaining any success with my writing. I studied anthropology in college, I struggle with footnotes and bibliographies, and I harbor resentment toward the producers of academic journals for charging exorbitant fees to read their pages.
I have to digress. The public should have access to peer-reviewed journals! Why, for the love of God, would you deny society accurate, current information? Remember the 2011 breakthrough, where gamers solved an extremely important, molecular problem that scientists couldn’t solve themselves? By offering access to information, you open your work to new ideas from outsiders, and you reap the reward of a better-educated population.
Today, public opinion got shoved in my face, forcing me to look at the facts. I don’t have the right degree. I don’t have elite friends to fund me. I don’t have a brand. I don’t have a following of people fawning over me, though a couple of my amazing friends offer me support. I might not even have material that appeals to most people. So, as this life progresses, I cling to my most important asset: my strong faith in my own abilities. One has to just keep working. Only time will reveal the results of the hard work.
P.S. I realize that I sometimes start sentences with conjunctions, but I’d rather approximate actual conversation than follow every grammar rule.
domesticatedanimals 