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Writers kid themselves-about themselves and other people. Take the talk about writing methods. Writing is just work-there's no secret. If you dictate or use a pen or type with your toes-it is just work.
Sinclair Lewis
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Interpretation

What this quote means

Writing is a straightforward task that requires hard work, not secret techniques or methods.

Sinclair Lewis highlights the notion that many writers often overcomplicate the process of writing by believing in certain methods or secrets. In reality, the act of writing is primarily about dedicating time and effort; regardless of the tools used, it fundamentally remains a labor-intensive endeavor.

Themes

WritingHard WorkProcessMethodsCreativity

In practice

Example use cases

In a writer's workshop when discussing the challenges of the craft.

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Upon this theology he rarely pondered. The kernel of his practical religion was that it was respectable, and beneficial to one's business, to be seen going to services; that the church kept the Worst Elements from being still worse; and that the pastor's sermons, however dull they might seem at the time of taking, yet had a voodooistic power which 'did a fellow good-- kept him in touch with Higher Things.
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She did her work with the thoroughness of a mind which reveres details and never quite understands them.
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There are dozens of young poets and fictioneers most of them a little insane in the tradition of James Joyce, who, however insane they may be, have refused to be genteel and traditional and dull.
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Quote by Sinclair Lewis | QuoteProject