"I was reminded of teaching and of how a job is incompatible with writing. So are a marriage, kids, religion, a bowling team. Probably everything is. And why is it called writing when the words are only a part of it? How do you explain to someone that your eyes are drifting up and to the left because you're trying to watch this actual person you made up cross the room and close the blinds, and that this is your job?"
--From page 6 of John Dufresne's powerfully affecting Love Warps the Mind a Little.
2 comments:
I once knew a sports columnist whose quality of work consistently transcended that genre. He wrote that his wife once criticized him for spending so much time looking out the window of their home when there was work to be done around the house. His response to her: "When I'm looking out the window, dear, I'm doing my hardest work of all." -- J. C.
Yes. The thing is, I've found it's the rare *writer* who really understands and makes time for window-gazing - in general, we tend to see it as wasted time as well.
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