the same gentle reminder

From an interview with writer Michael Lewis. Link found on the ever thought-productive Kottke:

I've written in awful enough situations that I know that the quality of the prose doesn't depend on the circumstance in which it is composed. I don't believe the muse visits you. I believe that you visit the muse. If you wait for that "perfect moment" you're not going to be very productive.

Here here.

I traded aerobics instruction for a portrait of my instructor's nephews when I was in graduate school. I've been thinking about how needs-exchange simply doesn't disappear, no matter what happens in the economy, and wondering about a return to bartering. Ran across this article.