Lamott, King, and Diaz Dialectical Notebook

Lamott--
This reminds me of Allen's debunking of the "inspired writer."	I know some very great writers, writers you love who write beautifully and have made a great deal of money, and not one of them sits down routinely feeling wildly enthusiastic and confident (301).
A good lesson for resilience.	Very few writers really know what they are doing until they've done it (301).
Hemingway said this, too!	Almost all good writing begins with terrible first drafts. You need to start somewhere (303).
King-- This reminds of Murray's inability to write in a different environment.	I'm in another place, a basement place where there are lots of bright lights and clear images. This is a place I've built for myself over the years (305).
Everyone feels it. You just have to write something. The something of nothing is often good stuff.	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 of what's in your mind and heart (307).
Everyone approaches it differently and King asks us to bring voice and identity.	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) (307).
Diaz-- Again, debunking the "inspired writer."	It wasn't that I couldn't write. I wrote every day. I actually worked really hard at writing (319).
I wouldn't call a novel relatively easy. Others wouldn't either.	Five years of my life and the dream I had of myself, all down the tubes because I couldn't pull off something other people seemed to pull off with relative ease: a novel (320).
Good last bit of advice to keep working at what you love.	In my view a writer is a writer because even when there is no hope, even when nothing you do shows any sign of promise, you keep writing anyway (320).