Yesterday, The New Yorker Radio Hour featured Bruce Springsteen. Asked what he would have done if no record contract had ever come through, he said, ‘What I’d always done. Play music. I had no other skill.’ The fact that most writers can’t make a living with their work is no secret. But still, we write. We write because we have to. We don’t know anything else — even as most of us have developed other skills to support ourselves so that we can afford to write.
During these difficult times, stories, essays, articles, poetry — the words we use to share our experiences and our angst — are keeping us connected, granting us a sense of unity, and enabling us to move forward.
In this holiday season, I ask you all to support our work. Buy a book. Buy two books. In any format. Give them as gifts. To your family and friends, and to yourself. Discover a new writer. Re-discover an old one. Yes, of course, I am hoping that you will buy mine, but over the next weeks, I’m going to suggest titles from my latest stack.
Feel free to add yours in the comments!
Cheers.
