I formed a resolution to never write a word I did not want to write; to think only of my own tastes and ideals, without a thought of those of editors or publishers.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
I actually started writing publishable stuff the day I decided I'd actually like to write something I'd like to read, and stopped trying to think what does everyone actually want.
I never wanted to be anything but a writer, and I never let go of it.
Understand, I had absolutely no interest in writing; I wanted to be a Writer.
Before I published anything, I dreamed of publication, but I didn't actually write for it. I imagined that writing for an audience was something for fancier people. I aspired, but mostly I wrote for myself. I wrote because it made me happy.
I realised that I had always been writing things that other people wanted me to write and not what I really wanted to write, so I felt like I was losing my way.
I made a decision to write for my readers, not to try to find more readers for my writing.
I never thought of myself as a writer.
I've never thought of myself as a writer. I still don't, despite all the writing I've done.
I don't think of myself as a writer.
For several decades, I believed it was necessary to be extraordinary if you wanted to write, and since I wasn't, I gave up my ambition and settled down to a life of reading.