1. Games of Free Cell are much more satisfying when you’re only allowed one game, and then you have to start writing.
2. When you’re feeling the urge to be a hermit, writing is the perfect excuse.
3. When writing is going really well, and often even when it isn’t, it can be like a little, cozy cave where it’s just you and your imagination. I call it “the happy place.”
4. Finishing something—a short story, a novel—is one of the most satisfying feelings in the world. It’s even more satisfying if you print the whole thing out and then drop it from a height to get a very satisfactory thump.
5. Revising can be very satisfying, too. Each stroke of the red pen is like ripping off a scab.
6. Starting something new is also one of the best feelings in the world. It’s all blue skies and possibility.
7. Once you’ve sold a story, no one can take that back. From then on, you are always a professional writer.
