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.
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Folklore is the perfect second skin. From under its hide, we can see all the shimmering, shadowy uncertainties of the world.
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