My goal as a writer is more to comfort than to disturb.
Interpretation
The quote expresses a writer's intention to provide solace through their work rather than provoke discomfort.
Joni Mitchell emphasizes her aspiration as a writer to create comforting and soothing narratives. She believes that the primary role of a writer should be to offer peace and solace to the audience, suggesting that art can serve as a refuge in turbulent times rather than merely a source of provocation or disturbance.
In practice
In a speech about the role of artists in society.
There's a man who's been out sailing In a decade full of dreams And he takes her to a schooner And he treats her like a queen Bearing beads from California With their amber stones and green He has called her from the harbor He has kissed her with his freedom He has heard her off to starboard In the breaking and the breathing Of the water weeds While she was busy being free
Unlike some of my peers, I haven't really hit a writer's block. When I hit a block I just paint, which is an old crop rotation trick.
This is a nation that has lost the ability to be self-critical, and that makes a lie out of the freedoms.
You wake up one day and suddenly realize that your youth is behind you, even though you're still young at heart.
I have an aversion to being mislabeled. Here's a label I'd accept: I'm an 'individual.' I'm someone who can't follow, and doesn't want to lead.
What I do is unusual: chordal movements that have never been used before, changing keys and modalities mid-song.
As an artist, you make music. And if you see people who don't know how to market your music, you get involved in it. Otherwise, what you want to accomplish 'gets lost in translation' - no pun intended.
Hip Hop was supposed to be this new thing that had no boundaries and was so different to everyday music. As long as it has soul to it, hip hop can live on.
Good story' means something worth telling that the world wants to hear. Finding this is your lonely task...But the love of a good story, of terrific characters and a world driven by your passion, courage, and creative gifts is still not enough. Your goal must be a good story well told.
The non-artists among us are always terribly busy, but finally disappear without a trace.
Poetry at its best can do you a lot of harm.
Anxious, inexperienced writers obey rules. Rebellious, unschooled writers break rules. Artists master the form.
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