If … you had asked, “Should I become a professional writer?” the answer would have been No. And why not? The answer would have been that if you were destined to become a professional writer, you wouldn’t have asked the question; you would have known the answer for yourself and to hell with what anybody told you.
— Malcolm Cowley in a letter to Richard Max ᔥ Rebecca Davis O’Brien (2012): Malcolm Cowley, Life Coach, in the Paris Review of Books.
Advice from a writer to a potential writer. A career in writing is a difficult choice: “the rewards come late”; “most writers are failures”. You need to want to write. Intrinsic motivation.
ᔥ Rebecca Davis O’Brien (2012): Malcolm Cowley, Life Coach ↬ The Dish.