Talent renders the whole idea of rehearsal meaningless; when you findsomething at which you are talented, you do it (whatever it is) until yourfingers bleed or your eyes are ready to fall out of your head. Even when noone is listening (or reading, or watching), every outing is a bravuraperformance, because you as the creator are happy. Perhaps even ecstatic.That goes for reading and writing as well as for playing a musicalinstrument, hitting a baseball, or running the four-forty. The sort ofstrenuous reading and writing program I advocate — four to six hours aday, every day — will not seem strenuous if you really enjoy doing thesethings and have an aptitude for them; in fact, you may be following such aprogram already. If you feel you need permission to do all the reading andwriting your little heart desires, however, consider it hereby granted byyours truly