The daily act of writing remains as demanding and maddening as it was before and the pleasure you get from writing - rare but profound - remains at the true heart of the enterprise. On their best days writers all over the world are winning Pulitzers all alone in their studios with no one watching.
I'm very happy with the way I look. I wake up some morning catch myself in the bathroom mirror and go 'hey girl you're alright'. But on the other hand I find the website stuff and the polls something completely removed from my own personal life. You can't take anything like that too seriously otherwise you'd end up in the loony bin.