Inspiration

After I graduated from college, I got my first job as an editorial assistant for the computer book division of a major publishing company. On the 16th floor in the building overlooking Central Park were several other imprints packed with young, interesting people.

It was one of those turning point moments in my life, because for the first time I was surrounded by people who were just like me. They loved books. They had read even more than I had. And several of them were just as geeky as I was; we would show off our skills in the back of the computer with tiny screw drivers and proudly wear OS2 buttons that we scored at COMDEX. Twenty years later, I'm still friends with nearly all of them. I talk to two of them on the phone every day.

The blogosphere is kinda like that group. Love their books and their geek stuff. It's great fun to read about their infatuation with writing, politics, and books. Their enthusiasm is contagious. Here are some links from just the past couple of weeks.

Tyler Cowen writes about the lovely feeling that you have after reading a good book. "This comes when, after you finish a book, you are still so wrapped up
in it that you can't bring yourself to pick up another one and leave
behind the mental and emotional world from the previous book."

Matt Yglesias writes about blogging as a vocation.

But certainly for the high-volume blogger, I just don’t see how you
could succeed unless you had a maniacal urge to write. And that’s
something I’ve always had. Before I owned an air card, half of my train
or bus trips to and from New York would inevitably result in me
starting a novel of some sort. Not because I want to write a novel, but
just because it seemed inconceivable to sit for that long with a laptop
in my bad without writing something. Before there were blogs,
I was always writing in a journal and apparently my grandfather did the
same thing for decades. Consequently, I find it to be a great privilege
to have a job where I can just write all the time, about all kinds of
stuff, more-or-less at random. For me writing-as-such has always been a
necessary activity, and trying to find constructive venues in which to
do it a bit problematic. The blog solves the problem.

Ta-Nehisi Coates writes about finding inspiration to write and create art after a trip to the Met.

I can't go to the Met without getting this overpowering feeling that
I've wiled away too much of my brief life. You look at the Burghers and
wonder how much care that took. How hard he must have worked. And you
wonder if you'll ever be so fortunate as to work that hard at anything.
I got up at three this morning and worked on some writing about DOOM. I
have been up ever since.

I find inspiration from bloggers.