Tying The Little Folks With The Older

Many A Young Person Tells Me He Wants To Be A Writer. I Always Encourage Such People, But I Also Explain That There's A Big Difference Between Being A Writer And Writing. In Most Cases These Individuals Are Dreaming Of Wealth And Fame, Not The Long Hours Alone At The Typewriter. You've Got To Want To Write, I Say To Them, Not Want To Be A Writer. The Reality Is That Writing Is A Lonely, Private And Poor-paying Affair. For Every Writer Kissed By Fortune, There Are Thousands More Whose Longing Is Never Requited. Even Those Who Succeed Often Know Long Periods Of Neglect And Poverty. I Did.

When You Clench Your Fist, No One Can Put Anything In Your Hand.

I Tell Younger Writers That Indeed It Is Devastating To Be Rejected. You Feel Like The Bottom Dropped Out Of Your World.

In All Of Us There Is A Hunger, Marrow-deep, To Know Our Heritage- To Know Who We Are And Where We Have Come From. Without This Enriching Knowledge, There Is A Hollow Yearning. No Matter What Our Attainments In Life, There Is Still A Vacuum, An Emptiness, And The Most Disquieting Loneliness.

The Way To Succeed Is Never Quit. That's It. But Really Be Humble About It. ... You Start Out Lowly And Humble And You Carefully Try To Learn An Accretion Of Little Things That Help You Get There.