Jack, great article! Thanks for sharing part of your journey, and I’m so sorry about the unfortunate part of your mother’s legacy. I guess for me anything becomes work if its drudgery, which writing is not. There’s a certain amount of work involved in play. If you have friends over for dinner you’re playing, but you need to cook the dinner first. If I want my writing to be any good, I need to refine, rewrite and work at it. Even playing with the grandkids has a certain element of work to it, hence the cliche, “Glad to see them come, glad to see them go.” So its a mixed bag.