"In 1974, J.D. Salinger told the New York Times that while he was still writing, publication was no longer his concern.  'There's a marvelous peace in not publishing,' he said.  'Publishing is a terrible invasion of my privacy.'"

"Writing and publishing are two very different acts, and the two are not as connected as might be assumed."

"The urge to produce another—to redeem the first book by writing a second—led to my own spurt of inefficient frenzy, which didn't result in anything of worth.  I was stalled, not be writer's block, but by the conviction that whatever I wrote had to be of superior worth."

"With its never-ending stream of reboots and sequels, modern culture has heightened the ideal that artists have a duty to capitalize on success."

"To this day, the Slow Food movement wants diners and chefs to challenge themselves by taking their time and making every meal a hedonistic experience.  Should we ask any less from ourselves as writers—or from those who choose to read what we make?"

"Today's writer is expected to craft an online identity while churning out everything from literary snacks to full-course feasts that threaten to be labeled TL;DR (Too Long; Didn't Read).  It's an exhausting scenario and, to compensate, many writers resort to templates that allow them to ape what has come before."

"A good book, like a good meal, is consumed with little thought to the hours of care that went into its preparation.  A book takes a month to write and only hours to read.  If you factor in the time it takes to grow, harvest, and prepare the ingredients, every meal takes just as long to prepare."