For A Man To Know What He

I Wanted To Eat Her Pain, Take It Into Me And Make It My Own.

I Was Very Influenced By The Magic Mountain. It's A Book That Had A Huge Impact On Me. I Loved That As A Shape For A Novel: Put A Bunch Of People In A Beautiful Place, Give Them All Tuberculosis, Make Them All Stay In A Fur Sleeping Bag For Several Years And See What Happens.

I Was Starting To Wonder If I Was Ready To Be A Writer, Not Someone Who Won Prizes, Got Published And Was Given The Time And Space To Work, But Someone Who Wrote As A Course Of Life. Maybe Writing Wouldn't Have Any Rewards. Maybe The Salvation I Would Gain Through Work Would Only Be Emotional And Intellectual. Wouldn't That Be Enough, To Be A Waitress Who Found An Hour Or Two Hidden In Every Day To Write?

I Made A Startling Discovery. Time Spent Writing = Output Of Work. Amazing.

Reading Fiction Is Important. It Is A Vital Means Of Imagining A Life Other Than Our Own, Which In Turn Makes Us More Empathetic Beings. Following Complex Story Lines Stretches Our Brains Beyond The 140 Characters Of Sound-bite Thinking, And Staying Within The World Of A Novel Gives Us The Ability To Be Quiet And Alone, Two Skills That Are Disappearing Faster Than The Polar Icecaps.