THE WRITER NEEDS a body to perform writing. The body is a text written by thought, experience, genetics, culture, performance, fashion, personality. The body is the self, the self is an illusion, and personality is one of its illusions. The writer creates a body of work, writings written by a person whose idea of a cohesive self is demonstrably illusory, whose conscious mind plays only a small part in what she does.

You’re writing even when not performing the physical action of placing words on screen or paper. You’re writing, or working on your writing, when you’re thinking about your characters and themes, your research and influences, your sentences and words.