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Carol Shields
Pulitzer Prize for Fiction
I can remember a moment of illumination, and it was when I was writing a series of poems. I was 29. I remember exactly because I wanted to enter them into a competition, and the competition was only open to people under 30. So I was right at the deadline of this. I did what I have never done before. At the end of each poem, I asked myself, "Is this what I really mean?" and it was the first time I felt I took myself seriously. I was not thinking of that reader, what that reader would -- what the expectations of that reader -- and I think we can never think about that. That's like thinking about market. We have to say -- and I put that question to myself very sternly, and it often resulted in the rewriting of the poem to make sure I said what I really meant. Now this is a piece of wisdom you would think I would have absorbed at once, but in fact, it seems I'm one of these people who has to learn the same thing over and over again. So there have been many times in my writing life where I've had to remember that.
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Donna Shirley
Mars Exploration Program
I signed up for 19 hours. The normal load was 15, but I wanted to take flying. And so, I signed up for this flying class, in addition to a fairly heavy course load. And plus, I'm good at taking multiple choice tests, which was the entrance exam for school. And so, they put me in advanced chemistry and calculus and all these advanced classes, and I was woefully unprepared for them. So, with the heavy course load, flying took a lot of time. So, I really didn't do very well for at least the first eight weeks. And in fact, I was flunking and my parents came up and, oh my gosh, you know, "Can we get you a tutor? What can we do?" So I went home over Christmas and just studied the whole time, and pulled out a B average that semester. But it was pretty hairy.
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Donna Shirley
Mars Exploration Program
The best teacher I had was my high school senior English teacher, who really taught us to love literature and be good at writing and things. Which came in very handy, because a lot of engineers can't communicate, and that was one of the things that helped me become a good communicator was taking this inspiring English class. And then in college I took Shakespeare, and Chaucer, and a few things like that, which was fairly unusual for engineers. So, having some sort of literary background turned out to be really helpful.
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Alan Simpson
Statesman and Advocate
I thought if I could end up being a senator without having to run for it, that might be a nice thing to go to the grave with. But you have to run for it. You can't end up and say, "Well, that was Senator Simpson. He never ran but we call him senator." And it didn't matter what they called me. I've been called everything. But the motivation was I got into the state legislature and I learned that if I worked hard, did my research, that I could actually create a bill. I had no staff, and I wasn't back in the law practice, I was in Cheyenne. So I rewrote the podiatry laws of the State of Wyoming because some gal said, "I can't even get treated by a podiatrist." So I wrote, rewrote, that took some research. I rewrote the implied consent law, rewrote land use planning. It was called "the grand commie plot!"
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Alan Simpson
Statesman and Advocate
Don't just sit and say, "I want to be governor someday," or "I want to be senator, and I know I will, because it's an obsession." I said, "Any time you look obsessed you're going to lose." Show me a hundred-percenter on anything and I'll show you a guy I want to stay away from. It doesn't matter where the issue is. So I tell them, "Look, if you want to be in journalism, or architecture, or labor, do something -- or electrician -- do that. And let people see that you are good at that, or a success at that." And then they will say, "Well now, he wants to go to the legislature, be on the city council or the school board. Well, why don't we put him on there? I mean, he's doing all right in what he's done there." And that's how it works. But I said, "Don't just wander around saying 'I want to be governor,' because you won't ever get there." I can assure you, you won't get there. People will get away from you. They'll think you're nuts. They'll think you're Napoleon, waiting to be crowned. So that's what I tell them. Go do something, whatever it is, do that successfully. Or do it the best you can. Whether it's successful or not isn't the issue. Do it the best you can, and they'll spot that. Then they'll elect you. These people say, "Well, I ran for something, but nobody would help me." Well, there's probably a reason. Probably they weren't a damn, or they didn't stimulate anybody. Or "I couldn't raise any money." Well, why not? Probably because who wanted to lay money on them? So some guys got it and some guys don't. But do something first and then let them grace you with a very intimate type of a thing. They're voting! That's your name on the ballot, and they're either rejecting you or accepting you. Pretty intimate type of thing. But it's very gratifying.
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