The writing life sounded so glamorous, didn’t it?
When you first started writing, you watched people struggling with their problems and knew you could help … if only they would listen.
So you took to the page with metaphorical fist raised, hoping your words would cut through conventional thinking and inspire a revolution.
But it was hard — much harder than you thought it would be — to gain traction.
Worse, it was lonely.
The sad discovery was that it was nearly impossible to get people to read something they didn’t already agree with.
Sure, you could commiserate with and take solace in the company of other (misunderstood) writers. But it wasn’t clear any of those real people out there with real problems were listening at all.
Before you decide to hang up your cape forever, let me introduce you to Michael Daly, a mild-mannered crusader from the world of science.
The story of his struggle might be just the insight you need to set the world on fire with your ideas.
Heretics
Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is not to stop questioning. ~ Albert Einstein
Michael Daly’s heretical idea began in 1974 when he saw an ad in the back of a comic book for Sea Monkeys.
Sea monkeys are rather miraculous creatures. You might remember that they’re sold as a dry mixture and then mailed out in a small envelope.
Young Daly had only to reconstitute them in water, and in a few days, he had his very own brine shrimp Amazing Live Sea Monkeys® swimming around in a cereal bowl.
Daly, who would go on to become a molecular biologist, learned brine shrimp are not the only species that can survive complete drying (desiccation).
In fact, there’s an entire class of organisms known as extremophiles, and...
