Do you understand? I hadn't written anything good. It might be years before I would, if I ever did at all. That didn't matter. What counted was that I had, after years of running from it, actually sat down and done my work.

What often allows great work to get the attention it deserves is not a matter of only talent or luck but a matter of the will. Can you stick around long enough to see your work succeed? Do you have enough grit to take a few critical hits and keep going? Or will you get discouraged at the first sign of failure?

Walking my path took an epic amount of effort—hours of exploring, practice, trial and error—before there were any results. Money was a constant concern; I spent my first few years waiting tables on the side, eating ramen, and weighing paying household bills against the cost of buying film for my camera. Whenever I did have the opportunity to practi