“…the true novelist is the one who doesn’t quit. Novel-writing is not so much a profession as a yoga, or ‘way,’ an alternative to ordinary life-in-the-world. Its benefits are quasi-religious — a changed quality of mind and heart, satisfactions no non-novelist can understand — and its rigors generally bring no profit except to the spirit. For those who are authentically called to the profession, spiritual profits are enough.” JOHN GARDNER, On Becoming a Novelist
Find On Becoming a Novelist by John Gardner at Amazon.com.
Silver Birch Press 
another word for it? a route to transcendence! A redemption from time? Nice post