Two very simple rules: _x000D_ A. You don't have to write. _x000D_ B. You can't do anything else _x000D_ The rest comes of itself.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the importance of commitment to writing, suggesting that if you don't write, you will not achieve anything.
Raymond Chandler's quote highlights the duality of writing; one must dedicate themselves fully to the act of writing while also accepting that the writing process itself can be liberating and self-guiding. By stating that you don't have to write while simultaneously reinforcing that doing nothing else leads to a lack of progress, Chandler speaks to the necessity of balancing discipline and freedom in the creative process.
In practice
In a writing workshop, to motivate participants to put pen to paper.
Undoubtedly the stories about them [hard-boiled detectives] had a fantastic element. Such things happened, but not so rapidly, nor to so close-knit a group of people, nor within so narrow a frame of logic. This was inevitable because the demand was for constant action; if you stopped to think you were lost. When in doubt, have a man come through a door with a gun in his hand.
There was a desert wind blowing that night. It was one of those hot dry Santa Anas that come down through the mountain passes and curl your hair and make your nerves jump and your skin itch. On nights like that every booze party ends in a fight. Meek little wives feel the edge of the carving knife and study their husbands' necks. Anything can happen. You can even get a full glass of beer at a cocktail lounge.
Organized crime is the dirty side of the sharp dollar.
When in doubt, have a man come through the door with a gun in his hand.
The flood of print has turned reading into a process of gulping rather than savoring.
If my books had been any worse, I should not have been invited to Hollywood, and if they had been any better, I should not have come.
Most of us spend too much time on what is urgent and not enough time on what is important.
Knowledge is a sacred cow, and my problem will be how we can milk her while keeping clear of her horns.
What would be the good of rushing? You want these books to last.
You have to know who you are to grow to your potential. But you have to grow in order to know who you are.
And I know now that all the time I was trying to get out of the dust, the fact is, what I am, I am because of the dust. And what I am is good enough. Even for me.
It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare; it is because we do not dare that things are difficult
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