Are You Proud Of Yourself Tonight That

As I Made My Way Home, I Thought Jem And I Would Get Grown But There Wasn't Much Else For Us To Learn, Except Possibly Algebra.

Now, 75 Years Later In An Abundant Society Where People Have Laptops, Cell Phones, Ipods, And Minds Like Empty Rooms, I Still Plod Along With Books. Instant Information Is Not For Me. I Prefer To Search Library Stacks Because When I Work To Learn Something, I Remember It. And, Oprah, Can You Imagine Curling Up In Bed To Read A Computer? Weeping For Anna Karenina And Being Terrified By Hannibal Lecter, Entering The Heart Of Darkness With Mistah Kurtz, Having Holden Caulfield Ring You Up — Some Things Should Happen On Soft Pages, Not Cold Metal.

People Who Write For Reward By Way Of Recognition Or Monetary Gain Don't Know What They're Doing. They're In The Category Of Those Who Write; They Are Not Writers. Writing Is Simply Something You Must Do. It's Rather Like Virtue In That It Is Its Own Reward. Writing Is Selfish And Contradictory In Its Terms. First Of All, You're Writing For An Audience Of One, You Must Please The One Person You're Writing For. Yourself.

Rest Assured, As Long As I Am Alive Any Book Purporting To Be With My Cooperation Is A Falsehood.

Turtles Don't Feel, Stupid," Said Jem. "were You Ever A Turtle, Huh?