Vision Of Truth, Guided By God

Thanks to Baird for passing on the following essay by James Lee Burke, whose recent book, The Tin Roof Blowdown, is supposed to be pretty good.

Check it out: I have never thought of my vocation as work. I never had what is called writer's block, nor have I ever measured the value of what I do in terms of its commercial success. I also believe that whatever degree of creative talent I possess was not earned but was given to me by a power outside myself, for a specific purpose, one that has little to do with my own life.

The previous statement is one of fact and not meant to be a description of virtue. I believe creativity is a votive gift, presented arbitrarily by the hand of God, and those…