writers as artisans

I think one of the things that has changed for me as I have moved from a beginning writer to a more seasoned one is the way I look at writing. There is something magical in it, but it is not the same kind of magic as before. I think I used to think that writers had to have a special kind of genius, and that they sweated bullets getting each perfect sentence into each perfect book. I'm sure that many writers, like I do, take care to look over a manuscript again and again.

But the sense tha...