Tuesday, May 02, 2006

"The Root Problems of the writer...


...are personality problems. He or she cannot get started, or starts a story well then gets lost or loses heart, or writes very well some of the time and badly the rest of the time, or writes brilliantly but after one supurb story or novel cannot write again, or writes brilliantly while the creative writing course lasts but after it is over can no longer write. The root problems, in other words, are problems of confidence, self-respect, freedom: The writer's demon is imprisoned by the various ghosts in the unconscious."

a quote from John Gardner (in the Forward), Becoming a Writer

[Substitute "writer" for artist or "anyone trying to do what they really, really love."] Discuss:

2 comments:

Voix said...

I tried to write a comment and it turned into a whole blog post. There you go!

Alex said...

Oh wow. I love it when someone else, someone much more brilliant and precise than me, says exactly what I have been trying to say. Thaks for the quote Cavu. Now I wish someone would come up with the solution.