A Quote by Jessamyn West

Writing is a solitary occupation. Family, friends, and society are the natural enemies of the writer. He must be alone, uninterrupted, and slightly savage if he is to sustain and complete an undertaking.

Jessamyn West

Quote Topics

Alone Complete Enemies Family Friends Must Natural Natural Enemies Occupation Savage Slightly Society Solitary Sustain Undertaking Writer Writing

Quote Author

Jessamyn West
American - Author
July 18, 1902 - February 23, 1984

I think the first thing - if you want to be a writer - the first thing you need to do is write. Which sounds like an obvious piece of advice. But so many people have this feeling they want to be a writer and they love to read but they don't actually write very much. The main part of being a writer, though, is being profoundly alone for hours on end, uninterrupted by email or friends or children or romantic partners and really sinking into the work and writing. That's how I write. That's how writing gets done.

Cheryl Strayed

Writing fiction is a solitary occupation but not really a lonely one. The writer's head is mobbed with characters, images and language.

Hilma Wolitzer

[T]rue socialism must be voluntary - not coerced. Even in the most complete system of society we can conceive the individual must still have rights and property. He must appropriate food to sustain his life. He must wear clothes which are his. He must have his private and exclusive apartment, and must have the right to be in some place on God's earth from which he cannot be evicted by landlord of society.

Joshua K. Ingalls

Writing is a solitary occupation.

Bernard Cornwell

Writing is, of course, a solitary occupation. But for many writers, myself included, it's through writing that we make certain vital connections.

Elizabeth Berg

Take no duty of the Guard lightly. Friends must not be enemies Just as enemies must not be friends. Discerning the two is a life's work.

David Petersen

Writing is a solitary occupation, and we like it that way.

Julianne MacLean

Writing, by nature, is a fairly solitary occupation.

Michael Cimino

Writing is a solitary occupation; we don't really have any colleagues.

Chris Pavone

Only solitary men know the full joys of friendship. Others have their family; but to a solitary and an exile, his friends are everything.

Willa Cather

Only solitary men know the full joys of frienship. Others have their family; but to a solitary and an exile, his friends are everything.

Willa Cather

Very few people can write in a crowd. This is a very solitary occupation. I have known people more talented than me who never made it. And the primary reason was always that they couldn't stand to be alone for several hours a day. Any writer worth anything has mastered the art. The art of solitude.

Tom Robbins

When I'm writing, I separate from everyone. Even my band. I push myself, and I'm alone with my thoughts. Separating from friends and comforts and family lets you think a lot deeper about subject matter. Working alone drives me a little crazy, but it makes the writing as honest as possible.

Vic Fuentes

I suppose directing on set is the most fun because it's a good crack and you feel you're on the battlefield whereas writing is a fairly solitary undertaking.

Guy Ritchie

Writing fiction is a solitary occupation but not really a lonely one. The writer's head is mobbed with characters, images and language, making the creative process something like eavesdropping at a party for which you've had the fun of drawing up the guest list. Loneliness usually doesn't set in until the work is finished, and all the partygoers and their imagined universe have disappeared.

Hilma Wolitzer

Couples need time alone to renew their relationship. They also need to sustain supportive networks of friends and family.