Writing is just work-there's no secret. If you dictate or use a pen or type or write with your toes-it's still just work.
Interpretation
Writing is simply a task that requires effort, regardless of the method used.
Sinclair Lewis emphasizes that writing, like any other form of labor, requires dedication and effort. The essence of writing lies not in the tools or techniques used, but in the commitment and hard work behind the process.
In practice
In a workshop about overcoming writer's block, this quote can inspire attendees to stay committed to their craft.
Upon this theology he rarely pondered. The kernel of his practical religion was that it was respectable, and beneficial to one's business, to be seen going to services; that the church kept the Worst Elements from being still worse; and that the pastor's sermons, however dull they might seem at the time of taking, yet had a voodooistic power which 'did a fellow good-- kept him in touch with Higher Things.
Intellectually I know that America is no better than any other country; emotionally I know she is better than every other country.
Writers kid themselves-about themselves and other people. Take the talk about writing methods. Writing is just work-there's no secret. If you dictate or use a pen or type with your toes-it is just work.
She did her work with the thoroughness of a mind which reveres details and never quite understands them.
It is, I think, an error to believe that there is any need of religion to make life seem worth living.
There are dozens of young poets and fictioneers most of them a little insane in the tradition of James Joyce, who, however insane they may be, have refused to be genteel and traditional and dull.
It is the function of art to renew our perception. What we are familiar with we cease to see. The writer shakes up the familiar scene, and, as if by magic, we see a new meaning in it.
In the world of musical theatre, if everyone says it's a good idea, you wonder why nobody has done it before.
Years ago, I thought up the name Queen...It's just a name, but it's very regal obviously, and it sounds splendid...It's a strong name, very universal and immediate. It had a lot of visual potential and was open to all sorts of interpretations. I was certainly aware of the gay connotations, but that was just one facet of it.
What am I in the eyes of most people - a nonentity, an eccentric, or an unpleasant person - somebody who has no position in society and will never have; in short, the lowest of the low. All right, then - even if that were absolutely true, then I should one day like to show by my work what such an eccentric, such a nobody, has in his heart.
He seemed to be made of sunshine and blood-red tissue and clear weather.
If the world were clear, art would not exist.
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