The Road is Not the Work

“The writing has changed, in your hands, and in a twinkling, from an expression of your notions to an epistemological tool. The new place interests you because it is not clear. You attend. In your humility, you lay down the words carefully, watching all the angles. Now the earlier writing looks soft and careless. Process is nothing; erase your tracks. The path is not the work. I hope tracks have grown over. I hope birds are the crumbs; I hope you will toss it all and not look back.”   Annie Dillard.