Junot Díaz Hates Writing Short Stories - NYTimes.com

For all my students who are writing:  So you think you hate writing? That you'd like writing (studying, thinking, insert whatever here) if you were good at it? What about it? This interview provides a window into one writer's process. It's not so neat and pretty as it seems.

Consider this writer's experience and his philosophy . . .

"The thing is, you try your best, and what else you got? You try your best, really, that’s all you can do. "
                     Junot Diaz - writer, MIT creative writing professor, fiction editor at Boston Review, and MacArthur Fellow, 2012 

The New York Times announced on October 1, 2012, that "the fellowships from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, awards that can’t be applied for, are the stuff of fantasy. Besides the imprimatur of outstanding achievement, they come with a no-strings-attached $100,000 a year for five years."