"Whether or not a piece works isn’t really important, and frankly I can’t tell. I mean—you know when..."

“Whether or not a piece works isn’t really important, and frankly I can’t tell. I mean—you know when something is going well, the prose is good and you know when you get into the dumps. But to know if a piece really works? You might not know for two years. That’s the leap of faith, right? That’s why we’re afraid of novels. We get into this thing and we might not know if it works for five years. Or ten. It’s risky. But the thing is—those five years are going to pass anyway. Whether or not you’re in there with a novel, those five years are going to pass. And then you’re gonna die. At some point you’re gonna die. So, you can not write your novel and die, or you can write your novel and die. You might as well write.”

- Sam Ligon (via mttbll)