You don’t suck as much as you think! Or even if you do, you won’t suck forever if you keep at it. Image source: NYU

Why YOUR (Yes, You!) Writing Matters

Because There’s Only One Way to Find Out Whether the World Needs It (Or Not)

Agh!

You howl. You whip your wireless mouse at the wall. You glare at the text you’ve just written and hate it from the depth of your soul. You’re irked by writer’s block. Your confidence is shot. Things are not looking good.

Why do you even bother?

You’re not feeling great. Your brain is telling you:

You’re only as good as your last piece. And right now, you’re worthless. Whatever little magic you had, you lost it. You’re not a famous entrepreneur. You’re not an award-winning journalist. You don’t know as much as those Top 5 bloggers. You imposter. No one’s going to read it, you hack. They want to read Elite Daily. They want to read Thought Catalog. They like BuzzFeed. Give up already! Why are you trying anyway?

KRS-one. The spitting image of confidence. Image from Genius.

You need to make the first steps from this valley to one that’s more inspiring. Perhaps you need what rapper KRS-one calls a confidence sandwich to remind you why you write, and why your writing matters.

Even if your accolades don’t stack up well against other people’s, remember what Port Magazine’s Editor-in-Chief Dan Crowe says:

The point is, it’s not just famous people who are interesting.

Ninety-nine times out of a hundred, the world will not need what you have to offer. You’ll come across as boring. Uninformed. Impulsive. Naive. Childish. Dislikable, perhaps.

But on that really off-chance you do manage to make an impact with even just a few words, it’s all worth it. You may have just taught someone. You just inspired them. You will have changed their life, even if just in a small way, and that might change how their trajectory ultimately turns out.

Whether you’re a student, hobbyist, ghostwriter, entrepreneur, technical writer, copywriter, blogger, press agent, designer, or any other person who works with words — you might find these quotes useful. Enjoy.

Image via Lifehack.

Y Combinator Founder Paul Graham on Looking Like a Fool

“No one wants to look like a fool. But it’s very useful to be able to. If most of your ideas aren’t stupid, you’re probably being too conservative. You’re not bracketing the problem.”

— Paul Graham, The Power of the Marginal

Apple’s and Pixar’s Steve Jobs on Storytelling

“I worked at NeXT the summer of 94. I was in the break room with 2 colleagues when Jobs walked in and started making a bagel. We were sitting at a table eating ours when he out of the blue asked us “Who is the most powerful person in the world?” I said Mandela since I had just been there as an international observer for the elections. In his confident fashion he stated “NO!…you are all wrong…the most powerful person in the world is the story teller.” At this point I was thinking to myself “Steve, I love you but there is a fine line between genius and loco..and I think I am witnessing this right now”. Steve continued, “The storyteller sets the vision, values and agenda of an entire generation that is to come and Disney has a monopoly on the storyteller business. You know what? I am tired of that bullshit, I am going to be the next storyteller” and he walked out with his bagel.”

— Tomas Higbey, Quora

Google’s Robert Wong on How Fiction Drives Technology

Writer Thuy Com on Picture Books

“For kids, picture books can be great friends who understand them deeply. They are very patient, non-judgmental, and do not complain. Like when Dr. Seuss writes ‘You are you. Now, isn’t that pleasant?’ Children can take comfort from these friends’ words in the moments when they are most needed.”

— Thuy Com, Room to Read via Medium

(This just reminds me that in the world of technology and logic and medicine, art and writing still has a really important important place in people’s hearts.)

Musician Kanye West on Poetry and Legacy

“It’s funny how so many rappers get worse as their careers stretch out but true poets get better.”

“We will follow in the footsteps of Maya Angelou, Gil Scott-Heron and Nina Simone. Their work improved with time. They documented what was happening in culture. That is our responsibility as the modern day artists and poets, to accurately represent what is happening now, so when the powers that be try to rewrite history you can always look at our works and find truth and sincerity in a world of processed information.”

— Kanye West, KanyeUniverseCity

Novelist Fred Waitzkin on the Girl in the Elevator

For me, inspiration is primarily energy. If I feel energy for a paragraph or a description I can almost always get to the essence of it. If I feel dead to myself, I don’t have a chance. I am always looking for energy. Where can I find it? What or who can give it to me? How can I amp up what I have?

A story can help us here. An older friend of mine was once depressed about his advancing years. He lacked zest or motivation for his regular gym workouts. He couldn’t concentrate on his career. One evening this man found himself in an elevator with a woman, a housekeeper who had worked for him in the past. But she was wearing outside clothes, a tight fitting sweater. She was young and beautiful. They talked a little. There was chemistry. She got off the elevator at his floor. They chatted in the hall. She said that she found him attractive. But he could feel this even before she said the words. She embraced him. And that was it. Nothing more happened between them. He was married and not looking for an affair. But he felt a big surge of life. He felt renewed, deeply so. There was a bounce to his step. He returned to the gym feeling ten years younger… There are many ways to experience the girl in the elevator.

— Fred Waitzkin, in an interview with Tim Ferriss

And, at the risk of encouraging half-assed writing, the most important and serious passage…

Image via The Guardian.

Stephen King on Writing

You can approach the act of writing with nervousness, excitement, hopefulness, or even despair — the sense that you can never completely put on the page what’s in your mind and heart. You can come to the act with your fists clenched and your eyes narrowed, ready to kick ass and take down names. You can come to it because you want a girl to marry you or because you want to change the world. Come to it any way but lightly. Let me say it again: you must not come lightly to the blank page.

I’m not asking you to come reverently or unquestioningly; I’m not asking you to be politically correct or cast aside your sense of humor (please God you have one). This isn’t a popularity contest, it’s not the moral Olympics, and it’s not church. But it’s writing, damn it, not washing the car or putting on eyeliner. If you can take it seriously, we can do business. If you can’t or won’t, maybe it’s time for you to close the book and do something else.

Wash the car, maybe.

— Stephen King, On Writing

And of course, I would love to read the ones that inspire you ☺