"One day at school, when I was fourteen, I made up my mind to be a writer. It was the first major decision I'd made, the first time I was aware of having a whole life and not just a succession of days. To my surprise, this decision affected everything. I seemed suddenly to have gained direction, volition; the various annoyance of the present were less weighty when there was a future pulling me on. I could detach myself from the life around because I had a plan of escape. At the same time, the present did matter, for the future would be built out of the present. There was both urgency and relief."
Hanif Kureishi, from the Introduction of Hanif Kureishi: Plays One
The serendipity of finding this paragraph paused time and motion for me one afternoon. As the train hurtled along shuttling dreams, expectations, hopes and lives, time and motion came rushing back... and conviction caught up with me.
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