Make an island of yourself, make yourself your refuge; there is no other refuge. Make truth your island, make truth your refuge; there is no other refuge.
When I Was 17, My Father Was So Stupid, I Didn't Want To Be Seen With Him In Public. When I Was 24, I Was Amazed at How Much The Old Man Had learned In Just 7 Years.
The simple sense of wonder at the shapes of things, and at their exuberant independence of our intellectual standards and our trivial definitions, is the basis of spirituality.
I think what gets you through a small writing project, is just one burst of inspiration. A book, especially a longer book, it's a different kind of force that pushes you through it. It's a vision of the whole thing.