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Although there is something to it… Why does minor feel like minor to all of us? Why does a "cry break" resonate with all of us, regardless of our country of origin, as a nostalgic longing for home? (There was a RadioLab episode about that, I believe…) Why does something in 3 just beg to be waltzed to, even if you can't waltz? (Raises hand sheepishly.)

There aren't enough no's in the world for this nonsense. Do what you do because you love it. If you base your self worth or the worth of something you create on what other people think you will never be your own man. You will never know your own voice. You will never be an artist. I can't think of a more unhealthy viewpoint for any creative.

Bah, people waste time with things they aren't competitive with all the time. Having been on both the hiring, and the being hired, side of the equation, I can tell you, it's often just about showing up and being pleasant to work with. No one person I've ever worked with was ever perfect at all aspects of their job. We are all good enough. When the printer jams, we all try taking it apart and pushing random buttons together, and suddenly it miraculously works again, and we have no idea why. We don't live at risk of being eaten by tigers any more and the world isn't as dog-eat-dog as you seem to think. (If it is that high-pressure where you are, go somewhere else and find some new friends! Because it's not like that for most of us.) It is entirely possible to be merely adequate at your job, whatever it may be, and do just fine. You will not starve on the street or be ridiculed by your peers. The modern problem seems to be one of too much choice. All of us have so many possible paths open to us that will allow us to feed ourselves that it becomes difficult to decide on one. Because we exist in such a fortunate era of history where we do have choices, we are encouraged to find our "passion." There's some intense psychological pressure involved in that. You aren't allowed to just enjoy the people you work with and do a decent job any more. You have to be passionate! But the world needs plumbers, and car washers, and accountants, and internal database managers, and not every moment of those people's days is going to be passionate. It's all gotten a little out of hand. Bottom line, find something you can do and do it. If you want to be a composer, be a composer. If you want to be a plumber by day, and compose by night so that you don't have to worry about the bills, do that. It's your life. Do what you like. Do what you need to. Do a decent job. But don't expect a lightening bolt out of the blue to suddenly illuminate what you are "supposed" to do with your life and don't get preachy about what other people choose to do with theirs. Thousands of generations of hunter gatherers and farmers had no choice in how they spent their days, and they were happy enough.

Any work you create is a document of a certain period. And always there are good compositions and bad compositions in your opus. For example: I know I could have reworked my Divertimento grazioso from 1998 and improve it but why? I think it's the best I have managed to do then. It would lose all charm of that period. So no turning back. All the flaws you encounter and understand shall be fixed in future compositions.