The best thing about writing has been the writer's life, the sense of being expressed, the ownership of the day, the entirely specious sense of freedom we have, however slave we are to some boss or other. I wouldn't trade it for any other life.
Interpretation
Writing allows for personal expression and a sense of freedom despite external constraints.
This quote reflects the deep connection between a writer's life and their craft, emphasizing that the act of writing is not just a profession but a means of personal expression and fulfillment. Despite the pressures and constraints of daily life and work, writing provides a unique sense of ownership and freedom, making it a valuable pursuit that the writer would not exchange for any other lifestyle.
In practice
In a speech about the value of creativity in life.
Perhaps things are most beautiful when they are not quite real; when you look upon a scene as an outsider, and come to possess it in its entirety and forever; when you live in the present with the lucidity and feeling of memory; when, for want of connection, the world deepens and becomes art.
After 58 years you'd think writing would get easier. It doesn't. If you're lucky, you become harder to please. That's all right, it's still a pleasure.
For Christ plays in ten thousand places,/ Lovely in limbs, and lovely in eyes not his/ To the Father through the features of men’s faces.
I don't like to write rhetorically or get on a soapbox. I try to make the stuff multi-layered, so that it always has a life outside its social context. I don't believe that you can tell people anything; you can only draw them in.
You have a lifetime to learn technique. But I can teach you what is more important than technique, how to see; learn that and all you have to do afterwards is press the shutter.
A successful novel should interrupt the reader’s life, make him or her miss appointments, skip meals, forget to walk the dog.
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