Those people have answers. But not writers. We are paid for our pain. And our nightmares … We spend so much time alone, brooding, that we become obsessed with sex, with fame, with chimerical business deals. We hunger for love, ache for sex—and yet, when we get it, dispose of it quickly so as not to let it interfere with our writing. Unhappiness is our element. We come to believe we can’t function without it.”
Erica Jong, How to Save Your Own Life