Brain Food #513
A lot of writing year by year
Thoughts of the day
Gertrude Stein was a significant figure in American modernism, prolific writer, fervent art collector, and founder of one of the most important salons (a somewhat highbrow gathering of people to increase knowledge through conversation) of her time. Amongst other works, she published six books in her lifetime.
Her secret was not intensity and sacrifice, but consistency:
"If you write a half-hour a day, it makes a lot of writing year by year," she said.
Echoing James Clear, who wrote of Atomic Habits decades later, Stein’s words serve as a reminder that good habits, even if done in small fractions of our days, compound. The result will come, but even if it doesn’t, however that result may be defined in our heads, the act should be rewarding in itself.
As William Faulkner famously quipped:
“I only write when inspiration strikes. Fortunately, it strikes at nine every morning.”
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