Original is better.
Trails are helpful because they offer us a safe way to transverse an otherwise unknown terrain. When you’re trying to find your way as a writer, it makes sense to look for and follow the trails of others. However, safe trails lead to safe art and safe art is rarely better art.
Be original to succeed.
A (debatable) note from novelist and poet Herman Melville.
Starting is better.
It is rare to experience the gratification of better at the beginning of a thing. It is impossible to experience it if you never start.
Start and then get better.
A note from science-fiction writer Octavia E. Butler.
Doing is better.
Not having the answers doesn’t excuse us from doing the work. In fact, doing is a prerequisite for finding them.
Do you, then do better.
A note from author and poet Maya Angelou.
Better is better.
Pursuing more (more subscribers, more likes, more anything) might lead to better but pursuing better almost always leads to more (more fulfillment, more fun, more art).
I write to better myself.
A note to my future self in case he ever forgets why we’re doing this.