the life of the writer

In my struggles with the what it means to be a real musician,
and that eternal "resign[ation] to the lifelong sadness that comes from never ­being satisfied,” these words from James Baldwin resonated with me, because so much of it is similar in editing one's work as a musician.

“Talent is insignificant. I know a lot of talented ruins. Beyond talent lie all the usual words: discipline, love, luck, but most of all, endurance.

If you are going to be a writer there is nothing I can say to stop you; if you’re not going to be a writer nothing I can say will help you. What you really need at the beginning is somebody to let you know that the effort is real.

Rewriting [is] very painful. You know it’s finished when you can’t do anything more to it, though it’s never exactly the way you want it… The hardest thing in the world is simplicity. And the most fearful thing, too. You have to strip yourself of all your disguises, some of which you didn’t know you had. You want to write a sentence as clean as a bone. That is the goal."

via the ever wonderful {brain pickings}