An excerpt from Fay Weldon

[pegkerr]

An excerpt from Fay Weldon's Letters to Alice on First Reading Jane Austen:

All I want to say is that a writer's life is not a piece of cake, although better, I swear, than a waitress's (I was one of those once, too).[Peg adds: So was I] And that, if you want to be a writer--don't; if you want to write, which is a different matter, nothing will stop you, not lack of time, nor the existence of a husband, home or children; these things will merely sharpen your determination, not deter you. And that it is useless looking for things to say; if you have nothing to say, as my mother, your grandmother, used to remark to us girls, shut up.

I adore this book.