I thought I was clever enough to write as well as these people and I didn't realize that there is something called originality and your own voice.
From Amy Tan
You write a book and you hope somebody will go out and pay $24.95 for what you've just said. I think books were my salvation. Books saved me from being miserable.
I would never require anyone to read any book. That seems antithetical to why we read - which is to choose a book for our personal reasons. I always shudder when I'm told my books are on required reading lists.
When I go back and read my journals or fiction, I am always surprised. I may not remember having those thoughts, but they still exist and I know they are mine, and it's all part of making sense of who I am.
I like to go somewhere where I learn something I didn't know before, like the Dry Tortugas between Florida and Cuba.
I learned to forgive myself, and that enabled me to forgive my mother as a person.
It's both rebellion and conformity that attack you with success.
It's a luxury being a writer, because all you ever think about is life.
No one in my family was a reader of literary fiction. So, I didn't have encouragement, but I didn't have discouragement, because I don't think anybody knew what that meant.
You can get sucked into the idea that, 'Gosh, this is impressive. Maybe I should do this. It will look good.' Or 'I'll write like this because it will impress that critic.'
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