Day 8

I've spent the bulk of today and yesterday on non-writing related activities. Job searching, mainly, finishing applications begun back in 2010, and getting new ones out. It's exhausting, and while I resent having to take time away from writing, I recognize that it is a necessary enterprise. I do not buy into the "starving writer" mythos.

One of the other residents here at Saltonstall is a writing center director at a university down state. We talked yesterday of the elusive balance that all writers (indeed, all artists) must try to strike between working and making art. For some, these are one in the same, but for most of us, we must render unto Caesar what is Caesar's, and keep our soul, our expression, our most vital selves for doing the creative work we are here to do.

I shall now drape myself artfully on the chaise lounge, a bowl of glistening fruit nearby, a crystal goblet of ambrosia in my hand, to ponder what exactly Caesar does with what I give him on a regular basis.