How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
But I still encourage anyone who feels at all compelled to write to do so. I just try to warn people who hope to get published that publication is not all that it is cracked up to be. But writing is. Writing has so much to give, so much to teach, so many surprises. That thing you had to force yourself to do—the actual act of writing—turns out to be the best part. It's like discovering that while you thought you needed the tea ceremony for the caffeine, what you really needed was the tea ceremony. The act of writing turns out to be its own reward. (Introduction.44)
Making millions of dollars and having book-signing lines like those of J. K. Rowling sounds a lot jazzier than just sitting down and writing. But Lamott thinks the writing process itself really is the most satisfying thing—that's how you get to know yourself and others, and that's maybe how you get to connect to people.
Quote #5
Ever since I was a little kid, I've thought that there was something noble and mysterious about writing, about the people who could do it well, who could create a world as if they were little gods or sorcerers. All my life I've felt that there was something magical about people who could get into other people's minds and skin, who could take people like me out of ourselves and then take us back to ourselves. And you know what? I still do. (Introduction.49)
Speaking of J. K. Rowling, maybe writing class is just a little bit like Hogwarts. What kind of person do you have to become to imagine another world or another person's experience?
Quote #6
Interviewers ask famous writers why they write, and it was (if I remember correctly) the poet John Ashbery who answered, "Because I want to." Flannery O'Connor answered, "Because I'm good at it," and when the occasional interviewer asks me, I quote them both. Then I add that other than writing, I am completely unemployable. But really, secretly, when I'm not being smart-alecky, it's because I want to and I'm good at it. (Introduction.52)
These two answers aren't bad reasons for doing most things. If you find yourself good at something and you want to do it, maybe it's the job for you. For Lamott, that means writing, but it's not bad career advice, period. (On the other hand, choosing to write because you want to be famous is probably not the kind of motivation that's actually going to help you.)