The Secret

Yesterday I was having lunch with a colleague and she asked me what it takes to do well in this business. I thought about it for a while, sort of making it up as I went along, and I finally came up with this.

You need to build two sets of skills.

One comes from learning all the public records laws and mastering all the interview techniques and skulking down dark alleys and jumping over fences.

You have to be a detective.

The other comes from reading all the great books and thinking hard about what makes beautiful writing and practicing and experimenting and never settling for pretty good.

You have to be a poet.

You have to be both.

A poet and a detective.

You have to be both.