"Delay is natural to a writer. He is like a surfer—he bides his time. Waits for the perfect wave on which to ride in. He waits for the surge (of emotion? of strength? of courage?) that will carry him along." (E.B. White, The Paris Review Interviews, 1969)
Have you ever seen the experiment where a baby monkey is separated from it's mother and forms an attachment to an inanimate sculpture made out of chicken wire and carpet?