Some writing advice from an excellent teacher


‘I was preparing to embark on a mountaineering expedition and had enough supplies packed for two weeks – among them a variety pack of foil-pouched MREs with quality bounded by “gustatorily assaultive” to the south and “surprisingly not terrible” to the north.

There exist different philosophies of sequencing these rations, as with the child who contemplates whether to save his dinner’s tastiest bit for last or enjoy it right away.

I asked an experienced alpinist for guidance. He told me:

“Eat your best food first.”

“Why?”

“Because that way, you’re always eating your best food.”’