Write every day, just to keep in the habit, and remember that whatever you have written is neither as good nor as bad as you think it is. Just keep going, and tell yourself that you will fix it later.
Interpretation
Consistency in writing is essential, and one should not be overly critical of their own work.
This quote by Jane Smiley emphasizes the importance of establishing a regular writing routine while encouraging writers to avoid overthinking the quality of their initial drafts. Smiley suggests that the act of writing itself is crucial, and individuals should allow themselves the freedom to produce imperfect work, knowing they can revise it later.
In practice
In a writing workshop, I shared Jane Smiley's quote to motivate peers struggling with perfectionism.
I say, when your hair turns gray and your children think they know who you are, do the thing that shakes up who you think you are, even who you had prided yourself on being. When all those around you say they simply don't recognize you any longer, that's the real compliment.
When a novel has 200,000 words, then it is possible for the reader to experience 200,000 delights, and to turn back to the first page of the book and experience them all over again, perhaps more intensely.
Not every novel that wants to be a tragedy gets to be one.
When I went to first grade and the other children said that their fathers were farmers, I simply didn't believe them. I agreed in order to be polite, but in my heart I knew that those men were impostors, as farmers and as fathers, too. In my youthful estimation, Laurence Cook defined both categories. To really believe that others even existed in either category was to break the First Commandment.
I was depressed, but that was a side issue. This was more like closing up shop, or, say, having a big garage sale, where you look at everything you've bought in your life, and you remember how much it meant to you, and now you just tag it for a quarter and watch 'em carry it off, and you don't care. That's more like how it was.
Somehow, knowing that Alzheimer's is coming mocks all one's aspirations - to tell stories, to think through certain issues as only a novel can do, to be recognised for one's accomplishments and hard work - in a way that old familiar death does not.
I don't write for catharsis; I have to write to understand.
Kill your darlings, kill your darlings, even when it breaks your egocentric little scribbler’s heart, kill your darlings.
I've tried writing on a computer thinking it would make me more efficient, but if you're writing crummy stuff, being efficient is no help.
And there was that poor sucker Flaubert rolling around on his floor for three days looking for the right word.
Write the best story that you can and write it as straight as you can.
I'm not a very good writer, but I'm an excellent rewriter.
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