Donald Barthelme Quotes

I spend long days wearing a corset - but no pain, no gain.

I've been a teacher at the college level, in composition mostly, and I've been an editor on magazines.

When you're editing, you want to be the perfect appreciator, not another writer.

It takes a little blood to let the learning in.

All commitments require sacrifice and hardship.

Good novel is a conjunction of many factors, the main of which is, without a doubt, hard work. There are many things behind a good novel, but in particular, there is a lot of work - a lot of patience, a lot of stubbornness, and a critical spirit.

Anything worth doing hurts a little.

You’ll learn that the key to a great book is editing-grindin g, buffing, and polishing-not writing.

Most writers want to share their essay or book much too quickly. Those who accept the pain of hard work and revising are those who get published.

I guess if editing doesn't hurt, you're probably not doing it properly. I find it quite difficult. The hardest part is believing that it's actually working and getting rid of the doubt that always creeps in.

Like running trying to live a good life has to hurt a little bit, or we're not running hard enough, not really trying.

I take editing seriously. It's a joy to edit. I always hand a manuscript to several editors and can't wait to get back their notes and see what they've said. I don't criticize myself for making blunders here and there, because it's just natural. You write in chunks, and you may not remember that that sentence you wrote yesterday had the same word repeated three times. I do enjoy that. I love the feeling of repairing. Repairing is really nice.

Talent is extremely common. What is rare is the willingness to endure the life of the writer.

I seem to think that anything worth having in life has to be painful to attain.

The writing is what gives me the joy, especially editing myself for the page, and getting something ready to show to the editors, and then to have a first draft and get it back and work to fix it, I love reworking, I love editing, love love love revision, revision, revision, revision.

An easy, non-self-denying life will never be one of power.

What do you want? What are you willing to give up to get it? Writing requires you make sacrifices. Be prepared to work hard to be a writer.

If you would be a reader, read; if a writer, write.

If you want to write, do two things - read lots of books and also, in your own writing, practise. Just write and write and then write again. persist. And never be put off or discouraged. You can do it!

When you can't create you can work

Write as well as you can and finish what you start.

If you want to choose the pleasure of growth, prepare yourself for some pain.

When I'm editing my work, I'm looking for everything to fit, to feel seamless, for every detail or line of dialogue or scene to feel necessary and organic. I approach the writing of others in much the same way while always working to preserve the writer's voice. To allow myself to be vulnerable on the page, I tell myself no one is going to read my work. There's no way I could put myself out there otherwise.

Crossing out is an art that is, perhaps, even more difficult than writing. It requires the sharpest eye to decide what is superfluous and must be removed. And it requires ruthlessness toward yourself -- the greatest ruthlessness and self-sacrifice. You must know how to sacrifice parts in the name of the whole.

Sacrifice. Work. Self-discipline. I teach these things, and my boys don't forget them when they leave.