17 February 2020
You wrote a novel so that people would believe that you knew your own mind.
No one believes you when you say you don't want to write a novel. They always think you're lying about it in order to conceal your insecurity, your fear, your trepidation. It is a truth universally acknowledged that a writer in want of an agent, of a publishing contract, of acceptance for their love of writing shall be in want of a novel. You laugh at this. You call it a cliché. You shrug. You say Some really great story collections out this year. You retweet short stories online. Your palms sweat in your pockets. You feel a beat of panic. You fear that it is true. You ask yourself if you are a writer if there is no novel to prove that you are what you say you are.
