you are lucky to be one of those people who wishes to build sand castles with words, who is willing to create a place where your imagination can wander. we build this place with the sand of memories; these castles are our memories and inventiveness made tangible. so part of us believes that when the tide starts coming in, we won't really have lost anything, because actually only a symbol of it was there in the sand. another part of us thinks we'll figure out a way to divert the ocean. this is what separates artists from ordinary people: the belief, deep in our hearts, that if we build our castles well enough, somehow the ocean won't wash them away. i think this is a wonderful kind of person to be.

-anne lamott, bird by bird: some instructions on writing and life