From Anne Lamott's Facebook status....
On writing:
"But what people secretly want help with is how to get published, not how to become better writers. Only the creativity will fill you. Only the discipline will lead you to freedom. The publishing will make you crazier and more stressed than you already are. But finding the work that is inside you, and bringing it forth onto the page, and learning to walk with it as you discover each other, and making it as good and true as you possibly can, is where the fulfillment will be. I wish there were another way.
It's hard, and it goes badly as often as it goes well, but no one is making you do it. No one cares if you write--so you have to. Just do it. And I would add, Go get 'em."
Anne Lamott is the author of several books including Grace (Eventually) and Traveling Mercies, which is a personal favorite. She is a Christian and talks a lot about God and Jesus in her memoir-ish books but I really don't see her and James Dobson getting along. She's a fantastic, authentic, honest and funny writer and I hope more people discover her work.
I really appreciated this quote because I've been playing around with more writing. And believe me, it's stuff I will NEVER show to anyone. ANYONE. NEVER. But I really like doing it, and I really like re-reading it. And re-reading it. I may be my own biggest fan. Or maybe I just love creating. Stories and characters and stuff rattle around in my brain all the time, but some how writing it out makes it real. To a certain extent. But there's this nagging thing of, if someday, I don't write "The Book" and "Get Published", then what's the point? However, as much fun as I'm having writing this crappy stuff, I echo the mentality that it is it's own reward. And having someone else (a professional whom I admire) say that, well it's very freeing. Just doing what I'm doing, as long as I'm writing, I win.
"But what people secretly want help with is how to get published, not how to become better writers. Only the creativity will fill you. Only the discipline will lead you to freedom. The publishing will make you crazier and more stressed than you already are. But finding the work that is inside you, and bringing it forth onto the page, and learning to walk with it as you discover each other, and making it as good and true as you possibly can, is where the fulfillment will be. I wish there were another way.
It's hard, and it goes badly as often as it goes well, but no one is making you do it. No one cares if you write--so you have to. Just do it. And I would add, Go get 'em."
Anne Lamott is the author of several books including Grace (Eventually) and Traveling Mercies, which is a personal favorite. She is a Christian and talks a lot about God and Jesus in her memoir-ish books but I really don't see her and James Dobson getting along. She's a fantastic, authentic, honest and funny writer and I hope more people discover her work.
I really appreciated this quote because I've been playing around with more writing. And believe me, it's stuff I will NEVER show to anyone. ANYONE. NEVER. But I really like doing it, and I really like re-reading it. And re-reading it. I may be my own biggest fan. Or maybe I just love creating. Stories and characters and stuff rattle around in my brain all the time, but some how writing it out makes it real. To a certain extent. But there's this nagging thing of, if someday, I don't write "The Book" and "Get Published", then what's the point? However, as much fun as I'm having writing this crappy stuff, I echo the mentality that it is it's own reward. And having someone else (a professional whom I admire) say that, well it's very freeing. Just doing what I'm doing, as long as I'm writing, I win.
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