Ray Bradbury's writing inspires me, and so usually does his advice, but I must admit a lot of times his advice on writing fills me with dismay, making me feel I'm doing it all wrong and not making proper progress on doing it right.

Don't mistake this as disagreement, because I actually agree and don't pretend to know different, let alone better, than Mr. Bradbury, but I can't help thinking that no one should "get the hell out" of writing or ANYTHING just because it isn't fun ALL THE TIME. That smacks way too much of quitting. Certainly, perhaps people who don't have a talent at one thing and *can* do something else might try to express themselves in other ways, but people with a real talent sometimes have to work to develop that talent although it may not be fun all the time.

Actually, I agree with what he says. I never forget the story of a man who'd worked hard to learn to play the cello and went to a Yo Yo Ma concert for further inspiration. Unfortunately, he said his career was finished partway into the first piece because Yo Yo Ma was so TERRIFICALLY good he was having fantastic fun at it, where to this other fellow it was work. So, I guess he quit, at least the idea of playing professionally, but because one person is better at the cello than 99% of the rest of humanity, enough to have fun with what would be a struggle to most people, does that really mean that NO ONE else should EVER play the cello? If nothing else, knowing something about it gives them an appreciation of what he's really able to accomplish.

http://www.youtube.com/results?search=netcinema&search_...videos&search=Search

Maria Lenhart

Other people get the notion that those people are wrong, and therefore you should get paid to do whatever you like doing. Or, if that idea is just too silly, then it's what you're really good at doing.

Of course, you get paid to do things because what you do is valuable to someone else. How much you get paid does have roots in whether anyone else is willing or able to do it. But as long as you're willing to stop doing it if you don't get paid, then whether you enjoy it or not isn't important to the question of how much you should be paid.

But writing is fun, even though I'm not getting paid for it and I'm pulling out my hair trying to do it. I enjoy it, so I will keep practicing. If I practice long enough, I bet I'll be one of the very few writers who gets paid to write. Maybe that's why writing better be fun, because we get paid the most, not for doing what others won't, but for doing what others can't. A doctor gets paid more than a plumber because it's easier to become a plumber than to become a doctor.

I don't like weeding so much as planting out and prefer cutting the lawn to trimming edges; that sort of thing. When the job is done I'm happy I spent the time doing the boring bits, especially when the result is good.

It's satisfying.