If you want to write fiction, the best thing you can do is take two aspirins, lie down in a dark room, and wait for the feeling to pass.
Interpretation
Writing fiction can be a challenging process, and sometimes you just need to wait it out.
This quote humorously suggests that the struggle of writing fiction can be so intense that it feels like a headache. The advice to take two aspirins and lie down reflects the idea that creativity can be elusive and that sometimes the best strategy is simply to wait for inspiration to return.
In practice
Sharing this quote at a writers' workshop to lighten the mood.
If art is not to be life-enhancing, what is it to be? Half the world is feminine - why is there resentment at a female-oriented art? Nobody asks The Tale of Genji to be masculine! Women certainly learn a lot from books oriented toward a masculine world. Why is not the reverse also true? Or are men really so afraid of women's creativity?
Sculpture and painting have the effect of teaching us manners and abolishing hurry.
The artist doesn't really think about consequences - he or she does the work, stands back and looks at and thinks, 'Hmm, that could have worked better like this.' But as a person who needs to sell tickets to do the next work, one needs to analyze how it does or does not hit its mark.
You have to be lonely to be a writer
By definition, poetry works with qualities and dynamics that mainstream society is reluctant to face head-on. It's an interesting phenomenon that by necessity, poetry is just below the radar.
I don't care if the audience is 600 Saul Bellows; I'm going to knock them dead with a comedy routine. I'm out there as a missionary for literature because, if people laugh and enjoy themselves, they might actually do something as bizarre as reading the book.
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