Bad books on writing tell you to "WRITE WHAT YOU KNOW", a solemn and totally false adage that is the reason there exist so many mediocre novels about English professors contemplating adultery.
Interpretation
The quote criticizes the advice to only write about familiar subjects, suggesting it limits creativity and leads to uninspired work.
Joe Haldeman's quote challenges the conventional wisdom of writing only about what one knows. He argues that this adage stifles creativity and results in subpar literature, as it confines writers to their own experiences rather than encouraging them to explore broader themes and ideas that can enrich their storytelling.
In practice
In a writing workshop, to encourage participants to break out of their comfort zones.
I have occasionally - if ever I do interviews that are difficult or nerve-wracking - I take my wife's dog tags and have them in my pocket because it's a very quick way to realize that what I'm doing is not that important. It's not really worth getting stressed about because it's not, you know, war.
Gratitude opens the door to... the power, the wisdom, the creativity of the universe. You open the door through gratitude.
The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.
Anyone can be rich in promises.
It is the common fate of the indolent to see their rights become prey to the active. The conditions upon which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance; which condition if he break, servitude is at once the consequence of his crime, and the punishment of his guilt.
Hope is a good breakfast, but it is a bad supper.
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