Anna B

And when one submits to the self-compulsion of ideological thinking, one surrenders one’s inner freedom to think.

1) Write. There is no substitute. Write what you most passionately want to write, not blogs, posts, tweets or all the disposable bubblewrap in which modern life is cushioned. But start small: write a good sentence, then a good paragraph, and don’t be dreaming about writing the great American novel or what you’ll wear at the awards ceremony

If you are meditating in order to grow the wealth of your business then you are approaching the act with, as Buddhist’s would say, wrong intention

It may well be the sentence that for diverse reasons—because thinking about Woolf, or sickness, or essays, because trying to emulate a certain rhythm in my own writing—I’ve copied out by hand more than any other.

Woolf herself was ambivalent about “On Being Ill,” and about its opening sentence.