So you want to be a writer?
if it doesnât come bursting out of you
in spite of everything,
donât do it.
unless it comes unasked out of your
heart and your mind and your mouth
and your gut,
donât do it.
if you have to sit for hours
staring at your computer screen
or hunched over your
typewriter
searching for words,
donât do it.
if youâre doing it for money or
fame,
donât do it.
if youâre doing it because you want
women in your bed,
donât do it.
if you have to sit there and
rewrite it again and again,
donât do it.
if itâs hard work just thinking about doing it,
donât do it.
if youâre trying to write like somebody
else,
forget about it.
if you have to wait for it to roar out of you,
then wait patiently.
if it never does roar out of you, do something else.
if you first have to read it to your wife or your girlfriend
or your boyfriend or your parents or to anybody at all,
youâre not ready.
donât be like so many writers,
donât be like so many thousands of people
who call themselves writers,
donât be dull and boring and pretentious,
donât be consumed with self- love.
the libraries of the world have yawned themselves to sleep over your kind.
donât add to that.
donât do it.
unless it comes out of your soul like a rocket,
unless being still would drive you to madness or suicide or murder,
donât do it.
unless the sun inside you is burning your gut,
donât do it.
when it is truly time,
and if you have been chosen,
it will do it by itself and
it will keep on doing it until you die
or it dies in you.
tangentwithtanner
areudirty
yousharknotpass
jacobvanloon
ellievsbear
turnnoffyourmind
pixelskylines
