some more efficient form of rescue

I will do anything to avoid writing. I hate every second of it. The only part of the process I like is having written, which I don’t think counts. If you’re now wondering why I write - I realise you’re not - the best answer I can give is that it’s the closest I’ve been able to come to song, to singing. I mean by this that my intent is always to reach some unbearable moment where time slows down and the sensual and psychological details compress and the language rises into what someone smarter than me once called the “lyric register”. The rest is just chewing gum and string. Honestly, if you can find some more efficient form of rescue, I recommend you do so.

- Steve Almond, in his lecture to the Tin House Writer's Workshop, entitled "Everything They Told You In MFA School is Wrong, Except The Part About The Debt" (podcast here). I quoted this a couple days ago, and I'm back because it's so damn quotable. Here's another quote from this talk posted somewhere else.