On writing

“What is the purpose of writing? For me personally, it is really to explain the mystery of life, and the mystery of life includes, of
course, the personal, the political, the forces that make us what we are
while there's another force from inside battling to make us something
else.” ― Nadine Gordimer

“In order to write the book you want to write, in the end you have to
become the person you need to become to write that book.”  ― Junot Díaz

“Why am I compelled to write?...Because the world I create in the
writing compensates for what the real world does not give me. By writing
I put order in the world, give it a handle so I can grasp it. I write
because life does not appease my appetites and anger...To become more
intimate with myself and you. To discover myself, to preserve myself, to
make myself, to achieve self-autonomy. To dispell the myths that I am a
mad prophet or a poor suffering soul. To convince myself that I am
worthy and that what I have to say is not a pile of shit...Finally I
write because I'm scared of writing, but I'm more scared of not
writing.”  ― Gloria E. Anzaldúa 

"In the author's mind there bubbles up every now and then the material for a story. For me it invariably begins with mental pictures. This ferment leads to nothing unless it is accompanied with the longing for a Form: verse or prose, short story, novel, play or what not. When these two things click you have have the author's impulse complete. It is now a thing inside him pawing to get out. He longs to see that bubbling stuff pouring into that Form as the housewife longs to see the new jam pouring into the clean jam jar. This nags him all day long and gets in the way of his work and his sleep and his meals. It's like being in love." - C.S. Lewis

Images above: Day breaks over Chagford and surrounding fields bright with winter rain.