Don't ever write just for a trend or fad, because it's a moving target, and by the time you get your work out there, the trend or fad is gone. Dig deep; don't be afraid to write fiercely. Expose your heart.
Jane YolenRead
Just write. If you have to make a choice, if you say, 'Oh well, I'm going to put the writing away until my children are grown,' then you don't really want to be a writer. If you want to be a writer, you do your writing... If you don't do it, you probably don't want to be a writer, you just want to have written and be famous—which is very different.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Writing requires commitment; delaying it suggests a lack of true desire to pursue it.
In this quote, Jane Yolen emphasizes the importance of prioritizing writing as a true passion rather than seeing it merely as a goal to attain fame. She implies that genuine writers write consistently, regardless of their circumstances, and that postponing the act of writing reflects a deeper ambivalence about their commitment to the craft.
Themes
WritingCommitmentPassionCreativityFame
In practice
Example use cases
Using this quote in a writers' workshop to encourage participants to write daily.
More from Jane Yolen
All quotes →I don't care whether the story is real or fantastical. I tell the story that needs to be told.
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What makes a good book? Scholars and critics have been debating that question for decades. I like books that touch my head and my heart at the same time.
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I believe that culture begins in the cradle . . .To do without tales and stories and books is to lose humanity's past, is to have no star map for our future.
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Childrens books change lives. Stories pour into the hearts of children and help make them what they become.
Jane YolenRead
Folklore is the perfect second skin. From under its hide, we can see all the shimmering, shadowy uncertainties of the world.
Jane YolenRead
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