We aspire by doing things, and the things we do change us so that we are able to do the same things, or things of that kind, better and better. In the beginning, we sometimes feel as though we are pretending, play-acting, or otherwise alienated from our own activity. We may see the new value as something we are trying out or trying on rather than

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“The work of the aspirant,” Callard writes, “is often marked by some resistance to doing that work.”

But! There is something deeply comforting in reading all the doubts and difficulties that a “real” writer like Proust must have experienced in his youth. For the aspirant, there’s nothing more comforting than realizing you are not alone in trying. You’re not alone in trying to find a subject, trying to develop the discipline, trying to turn your... See more

Time is filled with beginners. You are right. Now each of them is working on something and it matters. The large increments of life must not go by unrecognized.