I'm beginning to think that it take equal parts insanity and courage to keep writing even after you've learned just how far you are from where you'd like to be. I just finished reading "The Name of the Wind" by Patrick Rothfuss and like how he describes the difference between fearless and brave -- when you don't know any better it's easy to be fearless. To add to his distinctions, foolhardy might be when one flatly ignores or refuses to accept the possibility of danger, while courage widens your eyes and quickens your pulse with a full understanding of what you are getting into and why.
Earnest Hemming way referred to writing as bleeding, or emptying your heart onto paper. Putting that out for the world to see is scary. And after being burned with it's reality, it can be doubly scary. But I do like Galaxy Quest, and their motto, "Never give up, never serenader." Which I think might be equal parts foolhardy and brave.
I also love learning, and it's easiest to learn from seeing where you have been wrong. It's a bit painful knowing that the surest way to success is through the thorny field of failure. So onward I press, licking my wounds as best I can and trying to soak in as much as possible, believing (however foolhardy it may be) that someday I'll get the hang of this.
