I thought I’d devote the next few notes to how some describe what it’s like being a writer. I’ve coupled two short thoughts here, the first from Thomas Mann, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature (1929) for Buddenbrooks, The Magic Mountain and his short stories: “A writer is someone for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people.” And from 1999 Pulitzer Prize winner for the novel The Hours, Michael Cunningham: “I’ve come to believe that is more than anything else someone who refuses to stop writing and who can stand the disappointment.”