If you can still write in spite of the fact that you're not getting paid, that nobody cares about what you're writing, that nobody wants to publish it, that everybody is telling you to do something else, and you still want to and you still enjoy it and you can't stop doing it...then you're a writer.
Interpretation
A true writer writes for the love of writing, regardless of external validation or success.
This quote articulates the essence of being a writer: the intrinsic motivation to write despite external challenges and lack of recognition. It emphasizes that genuine passion for the craft is what defines a writer, highlighting that the act of writing itself is fulfilling, independent of financial gain or societal approval.
In practice
This quote can inspire aspiring writers during a workshop to keep pursuing their passion for writing.
One of the things that writing has taught me is that fiction has a life of its own. Fictional places are sometimes more real than the view from our bedroom window. Fictional people can sometimes become as close to us as our loved ones.
You don't write because someone sets assignments! You write because you need to write, or because you hope someone will listen or because writing will mend something broken inside you or bring something back to life.
If you can actually get someone to sit on the edge of their seat and feel nervous if there's a knock at the door, then you've done something pretty terrific as a writer.
It isn't just a village. The houses aren't just places to live. Everything belongs to everybody. Everyone belongs to everyone else. Even a single person can make a difference.
There is in writing the constant joy of sudden discovery, of happy accident.
There is something about riding a unicorn, for those people who still can, which is unlike any other experience: exhilarating, and intoxicating, and fine.
To see the Summer Sky Is Poetry, though never in a Book it lie— True Poems flee—
If a poet interprets a poem of his own he limits its suggestibility.
Films that are entertainments give simple answers but I think that's ultimately more cynical, as it denies the viewer room to think. If there are more answers at the end, then surely it is a richer experience.
Don't try to be original. Be simple. Be good technically, and if there is something in you, it will come out.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.