If you write a hundred short stories and they're all bad, that doesn't mean you've failed. You fail only if you stop writing.
Interpretation
Persistence in writing is key to success, regardless of initial failures.
This quote by Ray Bradbury emphasizes the importance of perseverance in the creative process. It suggests that producing work, even if it does not meet one's standards, is a valuable part of growth as a writer. True failure lies in giving up, not in the act of creating itself.
In practice
Sharing this quote during a writing workshop to inspire budding authors.
I've written about 2,000 short stories; I've only published 300 and I feel I'm still learning. Any man who keeps working is not a failure. He may not be a great writer, but if he applies the old fashioned virtues of hard, constant labor, he'll eventually make some kind of career for himself as a writer. Ray Bradbury, 1967 interview (Doing the Math - that means for every story he sold, he wrote six "un-publishable" ones. Keep typing!)
I never went to college, so I went to the library.
There must be something in books, something we canβt imagine, to make a woman stay in a burning house; there must be something there. You donβt stay for nothing.
I think the sun is a flower, That blooms for just one hour.
The first thing a writer should be is - excited. He should be a thing of fevers and enthusiasms. Without such vigor, he might as well be out picking peaches or digging ditches; God knows it'd be better for his health.
You can't try to do things; you simply must do them.
Online I see people committing 'social media suicide' all the time by one of two ways. Firstly by responding to all criticism, meaning you're never going to find time to complete important milestones of your own, and by responding to things that don't warrant a response. This lends more credibility by driving traffic.
A positive attitude gives you power over your circumstances instead of your circumstances having power over you.
We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of Now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy
The principle is competing against yourself. It's about self-improvement, about being better than you were the day before.
Champions have to have the skill and the will. But the will must be stronger than the skill.
You must realize one thing. In every little village in the world there are great potential champions who only need motivation, development and good exercise evaluation.
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