Moving toward the mountain

Today I came across this very inspiring commencement speech by one of my favorite ever writers, Neil Gaiman, to the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. I will let him do the talking, but if you have ever been in a position of wanting to make a good fist of a creative, freelance or artistic career, it's well worth a listen. As I was the recipient of some very unwanted career "coaching" last week, and in the middle of this uncomfortable, fraudulent and unasked-for experience, was made to lay out a manifesto for what I wanted to be doing in ten years' time, this theme is very much on my mind. I wish I'd seen this speech before then, because I think Mr. Gaiman says it better than I did. Definitely time to stop moving away from the mountain and start moving towards it. Mortgage be damned.