John Grisham's op-ed article in NYTimes

I enjoyed an article by John Grisham in the New York Times titled Boxers, Brief and Books. He writes about his experiences in the working world from the time he was a teen and labored as a helper to a plumber, crawling under houses in cramped darkness. He hated that job and went on to get a job with an asphalt crew. In Mississippi in July, he learned he didn't want that to be his career. He was only 17.
The emphasis however in this article is that he still labors at writing. And it took him a long, long time to come to the realization that he could write and sell his work.
So, as I tell my students. don't think it is so easy to just sit down and write a book that people will buy and read. It takes practice, perseverance and lots of discipline to be a successful writer. A new student told me after one class that she was disappointed. She had realized that she might not be able to turn out a book on the first try. She might even have to go back and re-write what she had done. She wanted to be a good writer right now. Don't we all want that?
But it is not quite as easy as it might seem.
Even John Grisham finds writing to be hard work.