Some advice from Ze Frank on being a creative professional.

"If you want to be a writer, you should be writing."

This has been my approach for a few things in life, most recently photography. Another huge part of my life is playing music and, I've said this before, but once I "decided" that I was a guitar player rather than a guy who plays THIS guitar or THAT guitar, I became a better musician.

Of course there are some barriers to entry; especially in creative fields. Equipment is expensive, education is expensive, but you'll never get anywhere with what you want to do unless you do it. This reminds me of a quote from Merlin Mann (imagine if these guys were in the same room together?) I don't remember it directly so I'll paraphrase, but it was something along the lines of, if you really love writing you won't be able to stop yourself from doing it. You'll find yourself writing on the back of a bar napkin and asking the waitress for more. And if you're NOT doing that, maybe you don't really love writing.

Anyway, I hope you like this as much as I do. There's no substitute for doing.