The secret of success
In the process of finishing a book right now, it occurred to me that writing is really a simple matter. There are only three issues to address:
- How to start.
- How to finish.
- How to take care of the stuff in-between.
In the early stages (1) you face the anguish of the “empty paper, defended by its whiteness” (Mallarmé) and do not know where to begin. If you overcome it, you have all the grunt work to do (3), step after step. At the end (2), while deep down you feel you have done enough and should be permitted to click “Publish”, you still have to fill the holes, which may be small in number but have remained holes for a reason: you have again and again delayed filling them because in reality you do not know what to write there.
All things considered, then, it is not such a big deal.
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