And . . . what if the worst happens? What if you are never published? The market seems to grow more difficult and more idiosyncratic every year. Even so, you will have been doing, all along, the work that feeds your soul, that makes you a larger, more generous person, and, more concretely, is guaranteed to keep improving your writing.
If publication eludes you forever, you will still have created a gift for yourself and for those who care about you.
— Marion Dane Bauer
Read the rest at Marion’s blog, from the post called A Letter From a Reader.
“Even so, you will have been doing, all along, the work that feeds your soul, that makes you a larger, more generous person, and, more concretely, is guaranteed to keep improving your writing.” I feel like taping that quote above my desk. So, so, so true. The moment writers get obsessed with how ‘famous’ (Ha!) their work might make them is the moment their artistic soul starts to die a bit. Great encouragement, Caroline. Much needed!