Topic: Interesting article for discouraged writers

[Betsy]

...about just how hard writing really is:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/06/magazine/be-wrong-as-fast-as-you-can.html?&pagewanted=all

[LeslieG]

That was excellent, Ellen--refreshingly honest. Thanks for sharing it.

[Mrs. Jones]

Really liked it. Thanks for sharing!!

[Bobi Martin]

"Be wrong as fast as you can."    Wow, how that attitude frees up a creative spirit.  This might be my new mantra.

[217mom]

Nice, Betsy. Thank you 

[Lindsey B]

Just  the thing I needed to read before heading into an afternoon of revising! 

[Shannywriter]

Thanks for sharing this!

[Pons]

Thanks, Betsy. Writers understand this article: I wish non-writers did, too - or at least tried.

[Amaris Glass]

Wow, so many good quotes. I especially like this one:

"A promiscuous imagination like this is dangerous for writers. As an editor, I can see that clearly. I know that the next brilliant brainstorm is never going to be the one that will just write itself, any more than the last one did."

and this:

"Ideas, in a sense, are overrated. Of course, you need good ones, but at this point in our supersaturated culture, precious few are so novel that nobody else has ever thought of them before. It’s really about where you take the idea, and how committed you are to solving the endless problems that come up in the execution."

I so needed to hear that! That makes me feel so much better about how really, truly awful my book is sometimes. Makes me feel like it's not necessarily a permanent state of being; I can make it NOT really, truly awful. I can even make it GOOD. 

Thanks for sharing, Betsy!

[kiteflyer]

Nice article, thanks for sharing Betsy.

[LeslieG]

John Lasseter's "Be wrong as fast as you can" quote in the article cited here inspired me to track down the original interview in which he said it. The conversation includes a great overview of stories in general, but if you want to get to the part that relates to that quote in particular, it starts at about the 47-minute mark:

http://www.charlierose.com/view/interview/12024

[eecoburn]

Love the article!  Very inspiring! Thank you! 

[eileenmf]

Love this - thanks for sharing it!

[Christine B.]

Amaris already posted this but I have to second it -- THIS is an incredible reality check:
"A promiscuous imagination like this is dangerous for writers. As an editor, I can see that clearly. I know that the next brilliant brainstorm is never going to be the one that will just write itself, any more than the last one did. Ideas, in a sense, are overrated. Of course, you need good ones, but at this point in our supersaturated culture, precious few are so novel that nobody else has ever thought of them before. It’s really about where you take the idea, and how committed you are to solving the endless problems that come up in the execution."

[rab]

I saw this in Sunday's Times and was really inspired by it. Thanks for posting it. I'll bet it will help a lot of people.