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.
Anything worth doing is worth doing slowly.
Abandon the idea that you are ever going to finish. Lose track of the 400 pages and write just one page a day, it helps. Then when it gets finished, you are always surprised.
It's hard to beat somebody when they don't give up.
Life opens up opportunities to you, and you either take them or you stay afraid of taking them.
Consult not your fears but your hopes _x000D_ and your dreams. Think not about your frustrations, but about your unfulfilled potential.
I can't say 'no' to an interesting role. I always tell my husband, 'That's it, I quit, I've done all I wanted,' and he's just like, 'Yeah, yeah. Sure.'
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