How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
My students at the writing workshops have this gift of loving to read, and some of them are really fast, really good with words, and some of them aren't really fast and don't write all that well, but they still love good writing, and they just want to write. And I say, "Hey! That is good enough for me. Come on down." (Introduction.53)
In spite of that cool story about Olympic athletes in the last quote, Lamott thinks you can write even if you aren't naturally good at it. Seriously, lots of published authors didn't actually get good until they'd been going for years. We're betting it's hard to get into the Olympics if someone doesn't think you're naturally good at it, but it turns out that you can be a published writer with just hard work and dedication. Well, you also have to do the hard work of being an open-minded, compassionate person, but why wouldn't you want to do that, too?
Quote #8
Don't underestimate this gift of finding a place in the writing world: if you really work at describing creatively on paper the truth as you understand it, as you have experienced it, with the people or material who are in you, who are asking that you help them get written, you will come to a secret feeling of honor. (29.30)
Another great thing about writing is that you get to do something noble even if you haven't, say, thrown a tiny but dangerous magic ring into the right volcano or defeated Lex Luthor. But whatever—the pen is mightier than the sword, after all.
Quote #9
And who knows? Maybe what you've written will help others, will be a small part of the solution. You don't even have to know how or in what way, but if you are writing the clearest, truest words you can find and doing the best you can to understand and communicate, this will shine on paper like its own little lighthouse. Lighthouses don't go running all over an island looking for boats to save; they just stand there shining. (29.31)
It's kind of a strange thought that you might be able to write something that will help someone you've never met, at some time in the future, in some way you can't even imagine. But we think Lamott is right about this. By writing, you might even save a life—or at least get someone through a break-up or something.