Status Updates From Journal of a Novel: The Eas...

I've soaked up so much of this book I started journaling again. With a pencil. A sharp pencil.

"Of course I feel that any imposed institution, even conditioned, is bad and not conducive to the development of the two great foundations of art and science: curiosity and criticism. If you stifle these two, how can any art emerge?"

This is a fascinating look into the writers process. I’m Reading it in tandem with East of Eden. To avoid spoilers I read the relevant parts of EoE first then read the corresponding entries / letters some time afterwards.

What a find! You feel like you've been let into a special conversation between a philosopher and his silent friend. Now I fully see William James' influence on Steinbeck — talk about Material Self hah John Steinbeck is such a fascinating person. His plans, the things he liked, purchased, invented, parties he attended, his admiration for his wife, his discipline and self-criticism, so admirable. All he writes, poetry.