Second Best

"I said, 'We all end up doing what we do second best'—stealing from Somerset Maugham, I think—and she said: 'No, we don't! We don't do any such thing!'" "There is a clock running on you and not the clock of mortality but the thought that there is an unknown date when you may lose your marbles, when you can't focus, you can't write, you can't pull together complex thoughts." (Peter Pouncey) stalling aftermath "Butter Boy" indulgent plan "Trouble" write blog not enough video edit obligatory time waste treasury journals memory imagination alternative lives "$40,000 in the bank today" woke me horrified Sotheby's preemptive temptation can't get comfortable squirming wriggling