Today I met with the director of my writing program to talk about my long project, an article on the "dismal science," economics. It's really boring, so I have to spice it up. I have some ideas of what to add and what to cut, but I'm suffering from writer's block. The director said, "You have to channel Anna," referring to my loud, quirky classmate who's SO dramatic and hyperbolic, saying things like "always" all the time. "She lives in fear of being boring."

If she fears being boring, I fear being insignificant. My situation, though, is ironic: unless I bring more life to my prose, I'll be doomed to insignificance because no one will read it.