crumbs of wisdom: work

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Thursday, September 1, 2016

Work

"Routine work, that best of all anodynes which the twentieth century has tried its best to deprive itself of -- that is what I most want. I would not trade the daily trip it gives me for all the mind-expanders and mind-deadeners the young are hooked on."

-- Wallace Stegner, Angle of Repose

from "Crumbs of Wisdom" by Penelope Lively:

Elaine, a writing teacher, has taken her class on a field trip to the home of Ruth Harrap, an aging romance writer.

"What we’re all wondering," Elaine went on brightly, "is, what advice would you give to the aspiring writer?"

"The who?"

"Aspiring writer. The, you know, person who wants to write."

"You needn’t spell it out," said Ruth Harrap tartly, displaying her first sign of animation. "I couldn’t hear you, that’s all." She paused. "Don’t. That’s what I’d say."

Elaine laughed merrily. "Oh, I do understand. I mean, in my humble way I’ve toiled in the vineyard as well. I know. It’s grueling. Punishing. But the rewards, Miss Harrap! And I don’t of course mean financial rewards. The artistic satisfaction. All that."

There was a silence. The author stared at Elaine, her face knotted in disapproval. "That may be your experience, for what it’s worth. It’s not mine. I never wrote but for cash. I wanted to be a buyer in a department store. Never got promotion. Ten years in china and gifts, I was, and then all those books, and I don’t know which was worst." She heaved herself to her feet again. "You’d better have some tea before you go. How many with sugar?"