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But it's writing, damn it, not washing the car or putting on eyeliner. If you can take it seriously, we can do business. If you can't or won't, it's time for you to close the book and do something else. Wash the car, maybe.
Stephen King
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Interpretation

What this quote means

Writing is a serious endeavor that requires commitment; if you cannot approach it as such, it's better to pursue something else.

In this quote, Stephen King emphasizes the importance of treating writing as a serious and dedicated craft, rather than a trivial task. He underscores that if someone is not willing to engage with this art form earnestly, they should consider stepping away and focusing on less demanding activities, illustrating the need for passion and commitment in the creative process.

Themes

WritingSeriousnessCommitmentArtCreativity

In practice

Example use cases

During a writers' workshop to encourage participants to take their craft seriously.

More from Stephen King

Try any goddam thing you like, no matter how boringly normal or outrageous. If it works, fine. If it doesn't, toss it. Toss it even if you love it.
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Eddie discovered one of his childhood's great truths. Grownups are the real monsters, he thought.
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Hairstyles change, and skirt lengths, and slang, but high school administrations? Never.
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Description begins in the writer’s imagination, but should finish in the reader’s.
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That's the day's business. Thinking. Thinking and isolation, because it doesn't matter if you pass the time of day with someone or not; in the end, you're alone. He seemed to have put in as many miles in his brain as he had with his feet. The thoughts kept coming and there was no way to deny them.
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Late last night and the night before, tommyknockers, tommyknockers knocking on my door. I wanna go out, don't know if I can 'cuz I'm so afraid of the tommyknocker man.
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