Fall, 1960: Resistance to Writing

"I at times enjoyed printing, bathing the dog, stacking wood for the fireplace, etc. more than writing. But when I am typing a diary (now volume 79) the entire life is re-created and it is such an intense pleasure to re-create a moment of life and love that it is worth the struggle. Often I did not know what I had done, or that I had done it. It was when I seemed most careless and casual that I would miraculously give the sensation I had experienced sur le vif. Writing is a curse only when there are no readers. Almost every other occupation gives more pleasure: cooking, sewing, gardening, swimming, but none of them gives you back the life which is flowing away from us every moment," Anais Nin admits.