Katherine Anne Porter, renowned political activist, beloved professor, and author of numerous short stories said of her only novel, Ship of Fools, “I finished the damn thing; but I think I sprained my soul.”

George Orwell also mentioned something similar, that writing a book was like enduring a painful illness.

Joyce Carol Oates says that writing, to her, is something essential, like dreaming. I like that statement, I like it immensely.

For me writing is a voyage, as is reading, perhaps that’s why I love them both so much?

Soon I will be able to get back to work (I have been sidelined by all sorts of things, among them a battery of medical tests that thus far have revealed nothing at all scary) and babies, finishing my novel sounds heavenly to me. I can’t wait.

Be well, keep your chin up (all of them), and if you’re writing, keep at it!

o