"Write while the heat is in you. The writer who postpones the
recording of his thoughts uses an iron which has cooled to burn a
hole with. He cannot inflame the minds of his audience."
--Henry David Thoreau
There is probably the biggest problem I have had lately writing. Writing while the idea is still fresh and new. It gets sometimes to where by the time I get to writing somthing, it's already stale and old because I have reworked it mentally so many times that it isn't new enough to write anymore. Not sure that makes sense, but there it is. After six or seven mental playbacks, the scene isn't fun anymore. Writing, instead of a process of discovery, becomes a work of transcription. I think this is what Thoreau is talking about when he talks about heat. It's the flame consuming new fuel that is the heat of writing, not a picture of campfire hung on a wall. There is a certain life to a campfire compared to the dryness of processes central heat. And unfortunately, we're taught that the central heat is desirable.
"Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from
mediocre minds."
--Albert Einstein
And you should go see what's goin on with Discovery today...
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/main/index.html
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