I thought of my favorite passage in the Gnostic Gospels: If we bring forth what is within us, it will save us. If we do not bring forth what is within us, it will destroy us.

but I knew there was another way to be. I had seen it in her. I just didn’t know how to get there.

a feeling mind, a thinking heart. A lived life.

Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.

Almost everything that has happened in my writing life has been the result of keeping my head down and doing the work.

Protect your time. Feed your inner life. Avoid too much noise. Read good books, have good sentences in your ears. Be by yourself as often as you can. Walk. Take the phone off the hook. Work regular hours.

Delmore Schwartz’s “In Dreams Begin Responsibilities.”

Though we are alone in our rooms, alone with our demons, our inner censors, our teachers remind us that we’re not alone in the endeavor.

Most of us can’t tolerate extended breaks. We are reminded how lousy, how out of touch we feel when we’re away from the page. So as you come to the end, promise yourself—as I am promising myself—that you will sit down tomorrow, and the next day, and the next. Not to start something new. Not with the expectations or fantasies of what you might (or