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The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from The Art of Writing by Robert Louis Stevenson: measured in weeks. There must be something for hope to feed
upon. The beginner must have a slant of wind, a lucky vein
must be running, he must be in one of those hours when the
words come and the phrases balance of themselves - EVEN TO
BEGIN. And having begun, what a dread looking forward is
that until the book shall be accomplished! For so long a
time, the slant is to continue unchanged, the vein to keep
running, for so long a time you must keep at command the same
quality of style: for so long a time your puppets are to be
always vital, always consistent, always vigorous! I remember
I used to look, in those days, upon every three-volume novel
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