August 9. I’m a successful writer, except that my success wasn’t with writing. It’s a feeling rock stars must have when they suddenly break through. A weight falls off your shoulders that you’ve carried with you all your life – so familiar that you no longer felt its stranglehold. You probably smell differently, walk differently, look differently. New strangleholds set in: Bad conscience. Fear of not behaving appropriately. Fear of having already gambled everything away.