As an English major with a concentration in creative writing, I am slowly but surely coming to terms with the difficulty of creative writing. My genre is fiction, and I have mostly written short stories up to this point, but already, I am forced to confront on a daily basis how grueling and unsatisfactory writing can actually be.
Sometimes I question my decision to pursue the craft, and other times, when I write a sentence that bears even a remote semblance to what I had in mind, I remember why I wanted to follow through with this career choice. The truth is, it's not really a career choice, and for anyone who has creative friends, you know that creativity or artistry are not choices, but callings that need to be satiated. Below are five quotes that inspire me to keep going despite the hurdles.
1. “I am a writer who came froma sheltered life. A sheltered life can be a daring life as well. For all serious daring starts from within.”
― Eudora Welty, "On Writing"
2. “You see, I believe that you cannot be taught to 'write.' You can be taught grammar and punctuation, but you cannot be taught to be a writer. That has to come from within.”
― Robert J. Randisi
3. “I don’t so much hope that any reader “agrees” with me, as I hope to haunt them, to trouble their sense of how things actually are.”
― Ta-Nehisi Coates
4. “Write if you will: but write about the world as it is and as you think it ought to be and must be—if there is to be a world. Write about all the things that men have written about since the beginning of writing and talking—but write to a point. Work hard at it, care about it. Write about our people: tell their story. You have something glorious to draw on begging for attention. Don’t pass it up. Use it. Good luck to you. The Nation needs your gifts.
― Lorraine Hansberry, "To Be Young, Gifted, and Black: An Informal Autobiography"
5. “If there's a book that you want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it.”
― Toni Morrison
I hope these quotes cause you to consider a creative outlet that will help you tune into a part of you that may be previously untapped!
