From a journal that Flannery O’Connor (1925–64) kept during her second year at Georgia State College for Women. The journal entries were published in Issue 94 of Image Journal. Regina is O’Connor’s mother.

december 28, 1943

I am. This is not pure conceit. I am not self-satisfied but I feel that God has made my life empty in this respect so that I may fill it in some wonderful way — the word “wonderful” frightens me. It may be anything but wonderful. I may grovel the rest of my life in a stew of effort, of misguided hope. At…