Waving The White Flag

Those who can write go ahead and do it, and those who can't read books on writing. James Parker meditates on a few such tomes, and ends with this depressing, though predictable, piece of wisdom: "Perhaps we should all stop trying so hard to become novelists -- to shatter the blockage, burst the spirit's sleep, free that tiny trapped writer within. With life, time, and neurochemistry ranged so implacably against us, maybe we should just wave the white flag. A baker with whom I once worked, an irascible man who sought tranquility in the mysticism of the East, told me this story: A great guru was asked what guidance he might offer to a neophyte seeker, to one just setting out on the hard path of spiritual development. His reply was a single word: 'Don't.' "