In English, my name means hope. In Spanish, it means too many letters. It means sadness. It means waiting. It is like the number nine, a muddy color.
Sandra CisnerosRead
I felt a failure because I couldn't sustain myself from what I earned from my writing. My day jobs were what mattered, and it was hard to even get those because universities wouldn't hire me as a real writer.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote expresses feelings of inadequacy and the struggle of balancing artistic ambitions with financial realities.
Sandra Cisneros reflects on her experience of feeling like a failure due to her inability to support herself solely through her writing. She emphasizes the difficulty of securing academic positions as a validated writer, highlighting the tension between her passion for writing and the necessity of day jobs to make ends meet.
Themes
WritingFailureCareerIdentityStruggle
In practice
Example use cases
During a writing workshop, someone could share this quote to emphasize the challenges writers face in achieving financial stability.
More from Sandra Cisneros
All quotes →But I deal with this by meditating and by understanding I've been put on the planet to serve humanity. I have to remind myself to live simply and not overindulge, which is a constant battle in a material world.
Sandra CisnerosRead
I try to be as honest about what I see and to speak rather than be silent, especially if it means I can save lives, or serve humanity.
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I'm a witch woman--high on tobacco and holy water. I'm a woman delighted with her disasters. They give me something to do. A profession of sorts...I have the magic of words. The power to charm and kill at will.
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I have to say that the traditional role is kind of a myth. I think the traditional Mexican woman is a fierce woman.
Sandra CisnerosRead
And the nice thing about writing a novel is you take your time, you sit with the character sometimes nine years, you look very deeply at a situation, unlike in real life when we just kind of snap something out.
Sandra CisnerosRead
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