Dearest readers, whomever you are, I thank you for continuing to bear with me during the last couple months. Real life has prevented me from writing as often as I desire, but my passion for the art hasn’t waned. I wanted to share something from On Becoming a Novelist by John Gardner that I read just now.

Finally, the true novelist is the one who doesn’t quit. Novel-writing is not so much a profession as a yoga, or “way,” an alternative to ordinary life-in-the-world. Its benefits are quasi-religious—a changed quality of mind and heart, satisfactions no non-novelist can understand—and its rigors generally bring no profit except to the spirit. For those who are authentically called to the profession, spiritual profits are enough.

Gardner, J. (1985). On Becoming a Novelist. New York: Harper & Row, p.145.

I’m still on track for reading 35 books this year, but I haven’t been able to maintain my goal of writing one short story per week. As long as I’m writing something I still feel that I’m making progress, however.

Be Well!

~RP