That Song: like pulling teeth

You must have heard the story of a famous writer who is at a party and is talking with a dentist who is about to retire. He says, "You're a novelist? I am going to write a novel when I retire."

"Oh," says our famous novelist, "I am going to pull teeth when I retire."

Surely novelists put in millions more hours in their work than any dentist ever did. Novelists sweat hard behind the scenes to make a novel seem easy. Like dancers and musicians. Again and again and again. Back to the keyboard. Delete, delete, delete. Read back, listen. Read aloud. Bug your friends. Pay for readers, editors. Re-write.

Naw, I think I will go out and pull some teeth!