Just finished reading the essay, “The Getaway Car,” by Anne Patchett, as part of her longer collection, This Is the Story of a Happy Marriage. In this one essay, Patchett takes a stab at exactly what it means to pour everything you are into being a writer. The author says, “I never learned how to take the beautiful thing in my imagination and put it on paper without feeling I killed it along the way. I did, however, learn how to weather the death, and I learned how to forgive myself for it.”
Patchett masterfully weaves her lessons for authors into her own writing autobiography. It is not always an uplifting, encouraging lesson, however, but people who strive to be writers–people who put their intimate thoughts on paper–and not just authors–people who publish and sell books–will take comfort in her knowledge.