a tiny ribbon of damp smoke

two things from this article about junot díaz from the ny times magazine. the intro:

Every writer is cursed or blessed with a unique creative metabolism: the distinctive speed and efficiency with which he or she converts the raw fuel of life into the mystical, dancing blue smoke of art. Junot Díaz’s metabolism is notoriously slow. His fuel just sits there, and sits there, and maybe every once in a while gives off a tiny ribbon of damp smoke, until you start to worry that it all got rained on and ruined — and then, 5 or 10 years later, it suddenly explodes into one of the most mesmerizing fires anyone can remember.

and junot on writing “This Is How You Lose Her”:

It was the only good day I had in this whole book. The thing is, you try your best, and what else you got? You try your best, really, that’s all you can do.