The Writing Life
Why do we write? For me words seem to come easily and I enjoy the writing process. (See Why I Blog)
But here’s what some renown writers have to say about their writing life.
“I write because I can’t be satisfied with the colossal job of living … I must order my life in sonnets and sestinas to provide a reflector for my 60-watt lighted head.” SYLVIA PLATH.
“I write because there is some lie that I want to expose.” GEORGE ORWELL
“Writing is my way of expressing – and thereby eliminating – all the various ways we can be wrong-headed.” ZADIE SMITH
“I don’t know why I started writing. I don’t know why anybody does. Maybe they’re bored or failures at something else.” CORMAC McCARTHY
“Why does one write? Because she feels misunderstood. Because she wants to rephrase the world.” NICOLE KRAUSS
“I write because I don’t know what I think until I read what I have to say.” FLANNERY O’CONNOR
“Because I can’t escape it. It’s a way for me to address and counter my questions about what it means to be human.” JUNOT DIAZ
“Any writer worth his salt writes to please himself – an exorcism not necessarily of his demon but of his divine discontentment.” HARPER LEE
“Why do I write, torturing myself to put it down? … Certain ideas keep filing away at my lethargy, my complacency.” RALPH ELLISON
“I could not live in the world of my parents, the world of war, the world of politics. I had to create a world of my own.” ANAIS NIN
“I write with a grim determination to deal with things that are hidden and difficult.” COLM TOIBIN
“I just knew there were stories I wanted to tell.” OCTAVIA BUTLER
And why do we read?
“I read so I can live more than one life in more than one place.” ANNE TYLER
– Dana Susan Lehrman
Dana Susan LehrmanThis retired librarian loves big city bustle and cozy country weekends, friends and family, good books and theatre, movies and jazz, travel, tennis, Yankee baseball, and writing about life as she sees it on her blog World Thru Brown Eyes!
www.WorldThruBrownEyes.com
Those are great, Dana. Thanks for sharing them. They’ve given me more to chew on…
Thanx Betsy, I thought it was intriguing to hear from the pros!
Thank you for this great little compendium, Dana. As much as I enjoy sharing our own thoughts about writing, hearing from the “pros” is most thought-provoking. (And Orwell’s quote is truly scary.) Amd your featured image is perfect!
Thanx John, I knew you’d react to the Orwell quote!
Dana, thanks for this collection of quotes from renowned writers about why they write. I am particularly struck by the fact that Flannery O’Connor said the same thing as Joan Didion. I wonder if one of them got the idea from the other. (They were of the same generation, although Didion lived a lot longer.)
Thanx Suzy, yes and two wonderful but quite different writers, I really like them both!
Wonderful collection of quotes. Writing seems, like other arts, quintessentially human. A way to express or seek to understand or influence our existence. Maybe other species do it, but who knows?
Thanx Khati!
If my cat could write I’m sure he’d have some stories to tell as he observes all!
Thanks for sharing these wonderful quotes, Dana.
Thanx Laurie, they are intriguing aren’t they!
Dana – Love these quotes! My fav is the Anne Tyler comment because reading opens my world view, but writing helps me to experience it……
Thanx Sara, love that quote too!
I identify the most with Flannery O’Connor. Thanks for giving me that wonderful quote.
Thanx Dale, it is a great quote!