in matters of life and writing, it's all about the journey and not the destination

(Photo credit : Ryan Pfluger for TIME)

You have to know as a writer the difference between how you consider yourself publicly and the way you must continue to only consider yourself a lowly practitioner. Every new page you start, you are a beginner. And I am writing everyday to challenge myself, to make myself better and stronger. You never see a great wrestler who doesn't drill, who stops fanatically practicing his best shot. My old coach used to say that if you were in it for the match, if you were in it for the trophies, you were in it for the wrong reasons. If you presume to love something, you must love the process of it much more than you love the finished product.

(John Irving)