I've never worked a day in my life. The joy of writing has propelled me from day to day and year to year. I want you to envy me, my joy. Get out of here tonight and say: 'Am I being joyful?' And if you've got a writer's block, you can cure it this evening by stopping whatever you're writing and doing something else. You picked the wrong subject.
Interpretation
Writing brings immense joy, making it feel less like work and more like passion.
In this quote, Ray Bradbury expresses how the act of writing itself is a source of joy that transcends the mundanity of work. He encourages others to reflect on their own happiness and suggests that finding joy in one's pursuits is crucial; if one encounters difficulty, it may be time to change focus rather than grind through frustration.
In practice
Using this quote in a motivational speech for aspiring writers.
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 can’t imagine, to make a woman stay in a burning house; there must be something there. You don’t 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.
I started writing at the kitchen table after midnight. It took ten months to finish that first book; I sent it to a publisher and I got some kind of prize, so it was like a dream - I was surprised to find it happening.
I have this theory that anything that happens to you that leaves you alive and intact can be used somewhere in your writing.
One of the things I'm so determined to preserve and restore is the fact that you can be the kid who was born in Dinsdale and find yourself working for the British government in the U.K., to being prime minister.
You aren't nearly through this adventure yet.
"Seek ye first the kingdom of God and all good things will be added unto you." Follow God and you shall have whatever you desire.
I wrote 'Option B' because I want other people to know it can get better, and I want to help people make it better.
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