I just deleted another post of about 600 words. It is one of the most frustrating things I have ever had to deal with. As much as I talk about learning from mistakes, I need to heed my own advice.

I woke up at 7:30 this morning with a parched mouth and too many thoughts in my head. I lied there thinking about life, writing, the people I deal with, and the things I read.

What ultimately forced me out of bed was thinking about my last post. If I could, I would add, delete and rewrite much of it. But it’s important that it stays because like a good painting, a masterpiece isn’t created overnight.

The art of revision isn’t at the heart of journalistic writing; it’s at the heart of good writing, period.

When I talked to my teacher this week, one of the things he said that resonated the most with me was that students today are much less likely to want to affect change than students 20 years ago. He said back then, if they had the capabilities we have today, there’s no telling what they would do. People back then read newspapers, were politically and socially conscious, they thought for themselves. Today, we have bred a lazy, coddled generation.

In 2 years, the people I graduated high school with are going to be thrown into an ultra competitive world that doesn’t give a shit about them. What have you done to distinguish yourself from the crowd? What have you done to set yourself up for success?

What do you do with your time? Do you spend hours on facebook every night? Do you watch mindless T.V? Do you get drunk 4 days a week?

Do you know what you want to do after school? Do you think it will just come one day, just fall in place for you? Have you thought about it? Are you worried?

These are things I think about every day. And I have to.

I know people will disagree with me, and say that you won’t look back on your life and wish you read more. I understand this, and I sure as hell am not de-emphasizing going out and living life. But you can’t tell me that I am going to look back at college and wish that I got drunk more. I want to do a whole lot more, and get drunk the same.

How many times can you go to the same party, dance to the same music, drink the same beer, and have the same banal conversations with the same people before it gets old?

Yesterday, I went through the New York Times archives and read a bunch of the stories. There is some good writing, and it really puts it all in perspective for me. If I really want to do this, I am going to have to work smarter and harder than everyone else because it sure as hell isn’t going to come easy. Rarely anything does.

This blog is about self expression, improvement, and realization. It’s also about me, not lying in bed thinking, but getting out of bed and writing.

That’s the difference.