I know I’m a bit late to the party, but I ran across this Steve Jobs quote while waiting in a doctor’s office. This was from a commencement speech he gave. Anyway, I had to share:
“Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life.
“Almost everything—the external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure—these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important . . . There is no reason not to follow your heart.”
Definitely puts it in perspective. There is no reason not to follow your heart, people. Let’s do this thing!
P.S. If you haven’t heard Shannon Whitney Messenger’s amazing news, she had a book deal! A mega, super, awesome book deal. And she’s celebrating with a crazy fun contest that you need to check out by Oct. 22nd. Seriously, you don’t want to miss >>this.<<
No, this is not a post about Jeopardy. Alas, just the final answers to the comments from my Tabula Rasa post.
Raquel Byrnes asked: Who is your dream publisher? If you could chose who would do it…who would you want?
I know this isn’t what you were asking, but any publisher who loves my work would be my dream publisher. There are a lot of great publishers out there, small, medium and large, and they all have place in this industry for the different things they do. I simply hope to work with people who are excited by my book.
The Golden Eagle, another 2-question comment, asked first: What’s one thing about writing that, before you wrote, you never imagined would come up? (Presuming you haven’t been writing since, you know, birth.)
Hmmm . . . this is perhaps the hardest question I’ve gotten. But I think I never imagined learning about the body’s reaction to certain kinds of deaths or diseases. Fortunately I have my personal research assistant (aka my husband) to help me out with these. It’s pretty weird to ask him questions about how quickly a dead body gets rigor mortis (a couple of hours in case your interested . . . and after about 24 hours, the rigor mortis clears up. Not something you see in the movies, eh?).
And question #2: And, was it awesome to have your picture taken with Oscar?
I just have to say that Oscar was such a pleasure to work with at that photo shoot! He knows all the tricks like putting vaseline on your teeth (though he did suggest adding a drop or two of green food coloring since my teeth were “way too white” according to him). Very pleasurable photo shoot. 😀
And finally, Connie Arnold asked: Do your children give you much input about your writing?
My children are still young enough that they don’t exactly give input. But they do give A LOT of inspiration! I’ve written several pictures books (still in the editing stages) that were inspired directly by them. Children definitely spew idea-fodder all the time.
So there we are, I’ve finally answered all the questions I received. Thanks again for the questions and for stopping in!
Dearly beloveds, we are gathered here today in memoriam of yon Valentine’s Day plant. We must bear the shock that death brings—especially poignant when in the rose of bloom.
In life, it gave of itself for the pleasure of others. Never seeking for self. And though its leaves have yellowed in shrivel haste, our memory lives on that we might have roses in March. And in April. And in May. And all the way to December, whereupon we can finally forget.
And though the tragedy strikes harsh, we find comfort in knowing it has moved beyond this cold, cruel world to the pastures of a better place. A kinder place. A place where black thumbs exist no more.
And thus, “I hold it true, whate’er befall; Despite outrageous valentine cost; ‘Tis better to have loved and lost/Than never to have loved at all.” -Alfred Lord Tennyson (with a slight adjustment by J.S. Johnson).