On a day when I’m frisking about on my computer and getting lots of fine things done — none of which include me actually writing anything beyond overdue emails, which are not evil in and of themselves but do help me forget the Writing Plan (such as it was) for the day — I like to recall Professor King’s encouragement. This comes from his excellent book-length essay on the creative life, On Writing. 

“Writing isn’t about making money, getting famous, getting dates, getting laid or making friends. Writing is magic, as much the water of life as any other creative art. The water is free. So drink.”

Stephen King (b. 1947) is — well, you know who King is, from the outside. According to Wikipedia, he’s sold more than 350 million books. According to me, his non-fiction is better than his novels, but his short and longer and longest fiction is still pretty good.

I long ago made a pledge to not drink, but as in the case of the vague declaration ‘I wanna BE somebody’, I perhaps should have been more specific. “The water of life?” Drink of it, I do. Hydrate myself, I must. Guzzle it, I will.