MFA vs NYC: The Two Cultures of American Fiction Highlight

whether or not you became a writer, in the end, depended on a lot more than talent. Many talented people I knew in college decided to pursue other things—they became academics, or screenwriters, or rabbis. Being a writer required you to make the decision, over and over and over again, to write. No one would care if you stopped doing it, even if they noticed. So there would be many moments in the future at which to decide to stop; or to decide not to stop, and to keep going.