“But the real life of a writer resides in showing up at the keyboard every day, with the necessary patience and mercy, and making the best decisions you can on behalf of your people. It’s a slow process. It often feels hopeless, more like an affliction than an art form. Most of us will have to find our readers one by one, in other words, and against considerable resistance. If anything qualifies us as heroic, it’s that private perpetual struggle. Put down the magazine, soldier. Forget about the other guy. Remember who you are.” PeopleIfsFeelsWritingArtRealRememberFormGuyProcessDecisionForgetStruggleReaderMercyWho You AreSoldierReal LifeResistanceMagazinesHopelessHeroicPerpetualAfflictionBehalfOther GuysKeyboardsShowing UpRemember Who You Are Author:Steve Almond
“The best thing that ever happened to me is that nothing happened in writing. I ended up working for engineering companies, and that's where I found my material, in the everyday struggle between capitalism and grace. Being broke and tired, you don't come home your best self.” WritingSelfHomeFoundCompanyStruggleGraceHappenedMaterialsCapitalismTiredEverydayThings HappenBrokeBest ThingsComing HomeEngineeringBest SelfBeing BrokeBest Thing That Ever Happened To Me Author:George Saunders
“If you'd like to meet some fully realized characters while learning some specifics of Zimbabwe's postcolonial struggles, as I did, you're likely to come away with a vague feeling of dissatisfaction. If you're willing to settle for first-rate writing and provocative meditations on memory, corruption and loss, they are all here in abundance.” IfsWritingFirstsCharacterFeelingsMemoriesLossStruggleMeditationWillingRateCorruptionSettlingAbundanceVagueDissatisfactionProvocativeZimbabweSpecifics Author:Jabari Asim
“There’s an old writing rule that says ‘Don’t have two character names start with the same letter’, but I knew at the beginning that I was going to have more than 26 characters, so I was in trouble there. Ultimately it comes down to what sounds right. And I struggle with that, finding the right name for a character. If I can’t find the right name I don’t know who the character is and I can’t proceed.” IfsKnowsWritingI CanTwoCharacterNamesSoundStruggleTroubleFindingsLetters Author:George R. R. Martin
“It is setting goals and trying to be a business person, but at the same time not losing sight of who you are writing songs for and what your goals are as a songwriter. So believe me, if you think I've got it down I don't it is a constant struggle.” IfsThinkingWritingTryingBelievePersonsSongGoalStruggleLosingSightWho You AreConstantSettingSettingsBelieve In MeSongwritersSetting GoalsWriting SongsBusiness PersonConstant Struggle Author:Christine Lavin
“Every play I do, every book I write, every painting I paint, I will struggle with. I don't know what it's like for a project to come easy.” KnowsWritingBookPlayEasyStrugglePaintingProjectsPaint Author:Antony Sher
“Like everyone else in this world, I have had struggles. There's disappointment and obstacles in everybody's life. I feel like I was writing 'Second Chance' not just for myself, but also for the people who have struggled.” PeopleWorldFeelsWritingChanceStruggleThis WorldDisappointmentObstaclesSecond Chance Author:El DeBarge
“For those that love the world serve it in action, Grow rich, popular, and full of influence; And should they paint or write still is it action, The struggle of the fly in marmalade.” WorldShouldWritingStillsActionGrowsStruggleRichInfluencePaintMarmalade Book:Selected Poems And Four Plays Source: Selected Poems And Four Plays
“Is not the real experience of each individual very limited? And, if a writer dwells upon that solely or principally, is he not in danger of repeating himself, and also of becoming an egotist? Then, too, imagination is a strong, restless faculty, which claims to be heard and exercised: are we to be quite deaf to her cry, and insensate to her struggles? When she shows us bright pictures, are we never to look at them, and try to reproduce them? And when she is eloquent, and speaks rapidly and urgently in our ear, are we not to write to her dictation?” IfsWritingTryingLooksRealShowsIndividualSpeakStrongImaginationStruggleHeardCryDangerBecomingEarsClaimsFacultyRestlessDeafEloquentDictation Book:Jane Eyre Source: Jane Eyre
“To refer even in passing to unpublished or struggling authors and their problems is to put oneself at some risk, so I will say here and now that any unsolicited manuscripts or typescripts sent to me will be destroyed unread. You must make your way yourself. Why you should be so set on the nearly always disappointing profession is a puzzling question.” WayShouldWritingProblemStruggleRiskOneselfProfessionPassingPassingsDestroyedHere And NowDisappointingManuscriptsPuzzling Book:The Amis collection: selected non-fiction, 1954-1990 Source: The Amis collection: selected non-fiction, 1954-1990