Bridges

T-shirt spotted the other day: Optimism is the bridge between dreams and reality.

The converse of which would be: Cynicism is the bridge between reality and despair.

Although I experience moments of cynicism—the world, after all, has some seriously dire issues—most of the time I'm an optimist. Otherwise I find it hard to get up in the morning and do optimistic things like . . . write. Which , I believe, is a bridge between my dreams and the reality of a book, and ultimately between storyteller and reader. I do it with the hope of maybe-kinda-sorta making a microscopic bit of positive difference in the world. It's my mission. And so, no sooner is one book off to the printer—There Is No Map for This, pub date October 1—than I start another—tentative title: Blowup. Optimism fuels me. Keeps me revising. Again and again, no matter how challenging. Bridge building.

What about you? More optimist, or cynic?