The point of a notebook is to jumpstart the mind.
Novels do take charge of the writer, and the writer is basically a kind of sheepdog just trying to keep things on track.
Because one has written other books does not mean the next becomes any easier.
There are two types of people ... the scrutinizers and the scrutinized
The narrative was too constricted; it was like a fetus strangling on its own umbilical cord.
Writing is manual labor of the mind: a job, like laying pipe.