Synonym a Day

Writing his books indeed seemed almost to become John’s compensation for not selling books. Cheeseparing advances, marketplace invisibility, scant prospect of reaching more than a handful of readers—more than enough reasons for a writer not to get up in the morning, or to peel off into magazine work or teaching. Not John. He was up and at the keyboard before sunrise every day. (Bruce McCall, “On Writers and Writing; The Most Successful Writer,” New York Times, 9/29/2002.)