I’m reading a couple books right now—Story by Robert McKee to assist with the redesign of this novel—and The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger who I had the good fortune of hearing speak at last week’s Illinois Author’s Luncheon. Everything that I read informs my day-to-day life and these books are no different. Over the past few weeks I’ve spent my mornings reading McKee’s book and taking notes. Every other day I will go back to the notes I have on my novel and try and apply some of McKee’s theories. I’m thinking about writing in a more tactical fashion than I ever have before. It’s driving me crazy.

Anyhow, at the beginning of his book, McKee spends two, maybe three pages discussing why writers must write full-time and give up their day jobs. He says that ultimately your creativity will run dry—your prose will dull and you won’t be a good screenwriter (it’s actually a book about screenwriting). Oddly enough, this brief chapter didn’t depress me.

Although I would love to spend my day writing in my office, Cooper stretched out somewhere near my feet, I know that I would find this reality daunting. Writers need outside stimulation. Writers need paychecks. And there are many ways to become a writer, regardless of what McKee says.

My grandma Fraterrigo used to say “Don’t ever let anyone else think they are better than you.” This has global application, don’t you think?