“I strive for imperfection, for that rawness, clumsiness, and awkwardness— which retains an energy— so hard to do. Perfection is the death of energy.”
Writers Speak
Sally Jenkins on the glazed donut of thinking
Writers Speak“I’m continually, constantly, everlastingly, refreshingly surprised by how hard writing is. It’s like a case of amnesia — between stories I forget how awful it was. But I remember again as soon as I sit down in front of the computer. I’m also surprised by how much writers fumble around in the dark, just hoping for a blast of fortunate inspiration. And I’m surprised by what a minor factor inspiration is in the overall process. It helps. But frankly, it’s the glazed donut of thinking. Writing is breaking rocks with a shovel. It takes a certain kind of strength.”
Writers Speak: Endings
Writers Speak“The ending is where a writer’s thinking and understanding and level of sophistication comes to full bloom. The ending is where the emotional impact remains flat or fizzles or soars. The ending, when done well, can feel simultaneously inevitable and surprising.”
Ralph Keyes on the key to become a writer
Writers Speak“One’s ability to rewrite is the key to becoming a writer, far more important than native talent or inspired writing sessions.”
David Finkel on gaining trust
Writers Speak“If you talk to someone long enough, you find common points. These things comes out, and you ask for them. If I ask too early, they won’t come through But if we talk long enough and they feel they can trust me, then they hand over things.”
Arthur Miller on Vulnerability
Writers Speak“The best work that anybody ever writes is the work that is on the verge of embarrassing him, always. It’s inevitable.
David Sedaris on abandoning hope for humor
Writers Speak
“it helps to abandon hope. If I sit at my computer, determined to write a New Yorker story I won’t get beyond the first sentence. It’s better to put no pressure on it. What would happen if I followed the previous sentence with this one, I’ll think. If the eighth draft is torture, the first should be fun. At least if you’re writing humor.”
Photo by Heike Huslage-Koch/Wikimedia Commons
Stephen King on outrunning self-doubt
Writers Speak
“Writing fiction, especially a long work of fiction, can be a difficult, lonely job; it’s like crossing the Atlantic Ocean in a bathtub. There’s plenty of opportunity for self-doubt. If I write rapidly, putting down my story exactly as it comes into my mind, only looking back to check the names of my characters and the relevant parts of their back stories, I find that I can keep up with my original enthusiasm and at the same time outrun the self-doubt that’s always waiting to settle in.”
STEPHEN KING
Tom Clancy on writing and golf
Writers Speak
“You learn to write the same way you learn to play golf. You do it, and keep doing it until you get it right. A lot of people think something mystical happens to you, that maybe the Muse kisses you on the ear. But writing isn’t divinely-inspired—it’s hard work.”
Michael Jordan and the power of failure
Writers Speak
“I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. Twenty-six times I’ve been trusted to take the game-winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life — and that is why I succeed.”