You will have to write and put away or burn a lot of material before you are comfortable in this medium. You might as well start now and get the work done. For I believe that eventually quantity will make for quality.
Interpretation
Creating art involves producing a lot of work, and through practice, one eventually achieves quality.
Ray Bradbury emphasizes the importance of volume in the creative process. He suggests that aspiring artists must produce a significant amount of material, even if it's not perfect, as this groundwork is essential for developing mastery in their craft. The act of writing, discarding, or even destroying work is part of the journey, and ultimately, the quantity of work leads to improved quality over time.
In practice
This quote can be inspirational in a writing workshop where participants are encouraged to share their drafts.
I've written about 2,000 short stories; I've only published 300 and I feel I'm still learning. Any man who keeps working is not a failure. He may not be a great writer, but if he applies the old fashioned virtues of hard, constant labor, he'll eventually make some kind of career for himself as a writer. Ray Bradbury, 1967 interview (Doing the Math - that means for every story he sold, he wrote six "un-publishable" ones. Keep typing!)
I never went to college, so I went to the library.
There must be something in books, something we can’t imagine, to make a woman stay in a burning house; there must be something there. You don’t stay for nothing.
I think the sun is a flower, That blooms for just one hour.
The first thing a writer should be is - excited. He should be a thing of fevers and enthusiasms. Without such vigor, he might as well be out picking peaches or digging ditches; God knows it'd be better for his health.
You can't try to do things; you simply must do them.
You always hear these stories of how Hollywood is so merciless on composers and how they all get beaten up. Nobody beats me up as much as I beat myself up. This is what I love doing and I have one life to do it in, and I better do it right. I better do it well.
Music is a world within itself, with a language we all understand.
We write from aspiration and antagonism, as well as from experience. We paint those qualities which we do not posses.
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.
One must act in painting as in life, directly.
It's hard in America as a writer of color, an actor of color, not to get caught up in race and culture. But you're also supposed to be able to write characters and scenes in a way where it's just a matter of fact, a component.
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