about ten days ago I got started on a new book, and am completely, brazenly devoted to it: my hair is uncut, my letters are unwritten, the house is a shambles, and I sit here as happy as Mrs. Jellaby, though I am in 1836, not Africa. It won't go on like this, I shall fall over some obstacle, and wake out of my dreams with a black eye and broken shins: but while it does last, I daren't interrupt it. I haven't had such a spell of writing for nearly three years.
Sylvia Townsend WarnerHow dreadful it is that because of our wills we can never love anything without messing it around! We couldnโt even love a tree, a stone even; for sooner or later we should be pruning the tree or chipping a bit off the stone.
Sylvia Townsend Warner