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"Not recently," he said, trying to be flip The criticis Mr Snoas blunt and he didn’t pull his punches Jon felt hi out of your head There’s no heart You understand what I’e, e to you and it sure as shit doesn’tto me"

"Is there a way to fix it?"

"Sure Here’s a quick fix Toss it out and start soth when you should be writing frout That’s the point of fiction, the connection between reader and writer This is crap Youthrough the motions I want to see the world as you see it Otherwise, athis stuff out"

"Well, that’s bullshit You said I could write anything I want and then you tear it apart"

Mr Snow hung his head "Okay Good point My fault Let’s skip the issue of content and talk about process You’re hiding You’re not givingto distract the reader fro how much you withhold You have to make yourself visible You have to open up and feel Mad, sad, glad, bad Take your pick I’raphy, but your life and your experiences are the wellspring You want to write, you have to tell me how the world looks from your perspective You have to absorb and deconstruct reality and then reassemble it fro about"

"Haven’t you ever hated anyone? Haven’t you ever been out of your ie dies and you can hardly get to your rooh before you burst into tears?"

Jon considered and then shrugged "I don’t feel that strongly about things"

"Sure you do You’re eighteen--all hor worse than a teenaged guy is a teenaged girl I don’t want you co his head He put the flat of his hand on his chest "I want you co’s hard It’s a skill you attain by practicing You don’t just dash off good work in your off-hours You can’t be halfhearted It takes ti your way through Five Easy Pieces and expect to be booked into Carnegie Hall You have to sit down and write As much as you can Every day of your life Does any of this make sense?"

Jon ses at hiive you this much Clumsy as this is, I can see just the wee tiniest spark buried in the et out of your oay and let the light shine through Now get out of here I’ll see you next week, okay?"

"Okay"

"You have to write every day, Jon Ime on time"

Walker came back from Hawaii and the first time the four of them convened at the bus, he took one look at Jon and kneas going on For a change, Destiny was cool She kept her distance, her manner strictly matter-of-fact Jon and Creed and Walker sed in the grass, reading Tarot cards Jon thought they’d pretty much pulled it off, but when he and Walker left and were barely out of earshot, Walker turned to hi,for your opinion"

"Well, here it is anyway She’s a slut and she’s stupid on top of that"

"I notice you’re not all that picky about the girls you screw"

"Because they’re nice and they’re clean She’s disgusting"

"I don’t want to hear about it, okay?"

"What if you get caught? How can you try pulling this shit right under his nose?"

"They have an open relationship"

"Oh, right You believe that, you’re a horse’s ass" Walker shook his head "You’re going to regret it, buddy boy I’ht now, this won’t end well"

"Thanks I’ed to him and the freedom was a relief Destiny, Creed, and Sky Dancer went off early to the farmer’s market in town and spent the rest of the day in faone to Sears and shoplifted half a dozen three-packs of white T-shirts, which she intended to dye in batches and then sell at the beach Jon was grateful for the long stretch of hours he could call his own Friday night he slept well, and when he got up he threw on a T-shirt and cutoffs He made a fresh pot of coffee and carried a cup to his desk He reread his story about the boy who ran ild dogs, this ti at turns of phrase that before had seeht to hih line by line, X-ing out anything cluraph worth salvaging He took Mr Snow’s advice and tossed the rest of it in the trash