“[I] seems to me that regardless of one’s level of writerly talent, to fall into literature wholeheartedly, to obsess yourself into the writing, to take your life and put it under a microscope and look as closely as you can at its genetic makeup, its DNA, is something we need now more than ever, as AI forces us to contend with what it means to be human.

“We’re now living through a moment of incredible transformation, where the future of knowledge work hangs in the balance, where writing—and also thinking—can be outsourced to a machine....[T]o write is to think and to think is to be human and to be human, in all its marvelous complexity, is all we’ll have left if we find ourselves contending with The Singularity in years to come....

“[B]ooks—and the words those books are composed of, and the writers who wrote those words—have never been more important, more necessary, than they are right now....

“To take time out of one’s days or nights or weekends, to excuse oneself from family time, or time with friends, in order to write and think about one’s life, is an act of selfishness that is needed more now than ever....

“[I]f you’ve decided that writing matters, if you’ve decided to try and locate the words to tell your story in the way only you can tell it, it simply doesn’t matter how you get there, or what anyone thinks about your ability, or your talent, or your age. It only matters that you pursue it as obsessively—and honestly— as you can.”

—Timothy J. Hillegonds, “A Singular Pursuit: Why All Writing (and All Writers) Matter More Than Ever Today,” Literary Hub, March 19, 2026