stephanie muddafukkin vanderslice Said:"So, back to the student begging me to tell her if she has what it takes to make it or if she should 'stop writing right now.' The best answer is to tell her that it's not up to me. Is she willing to keep reading and practicing writing until her eyeballs bleed and the letters wear off her keyboard? Because that's what she needs to be doing at this point in her embryonic career. Is she willing to keep writing even when no one else is reading her work, even if no one else cares whether she writes or not?

"Because all that matters, really, is that she cares. And is she willing to keep writing even after an agent, editor or anonymous colleague has just delivered a withering critique of her work, the kind that stops a less determined writer cold. Because The Truth is, I've met a lot of other writers along this path, writers who were more talented than I was and who, for one reason or another, put down their pens long ago. But I'm still here. Which is, I suppose, another kind of answer.


"I'm still here."


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