Eddie helped paint the porch...

When I get the sense that a new book is beginning, I start a notebook into which I put anything that might seem relevant, which could be a large-scale plot idea, something overheard on the bus, or a descriptive phrase that came to me on a walk. I don't actually start writing that book until out of all this has emerged a pretty clear plan for the whole thing. I can't just start writing and see what happens. Of course improvisation is an important part- I would find it dreadfully boring if I planned everything. What keeps you going are the discoveries you make in the course of writing."

Alan Hollinghurs, from an interview in The Paris Review

"only dead fish follow the stream"

- a Finnish expression

"Workmanship of risk is, generally, the making of anything individually by hand, the creation of a product that is never exactly the same twice...

Because the outcome of workmanship of risk is never certain, the quality of it is determined by the care, dexterity, and judgement of the worker...

from Wooden Boats by Michael Ruhlman

“When love and skill work together, expect a masterpiece.”

John Ruskin