Here is today’s writing quote. Check each day this week for a new one. Don’t forget Monday and Tuesday, either. Reactions?
“When I was younger and first beginning to write, I’d think I was going to get the Pulitzer and the Booker and the Nobel Prize. Now I don’t give a damn. I’m content to know that I write . . . good. I’m a good writer and that’s all I care about.” – Evan Hunter (aka Ed McBain)
Source: Writer’s Digest, Sept. 1996
I can honestly say I never had dreams of winning a particular prize. However I did have grand designs on being socked away in my cabin writing and passing the hours ala Zane Grey. Reality is unpleasant in that regard. Still, I love to write.
I agree with BK.
The only prize I expect to win is a big kiss from my wife and gleeful laughter from my kids when I finally land that mega-book deal and we can afford to take a vacation outside of Alaska. … one that doesn’t involve a tent and bear spray
Great quote. Makes me think of writer who’s really made it (Which Hunter/McBain most certainly did!) and is genuninely happy with their work and where it took them in their lives.
Happy in your work . . . Isn’t that what we all want?
Whoever wrote this quote must write literary fiction, because as a commercial fiction writer, I aim to entertain, not to win elitist prizes. I wouldn’t mind earning awards specific to a particular genres, though, because it’s always gratifying to have peer approval. But that’s not why I write. I want to give readers the same feeling I get when I pick up one of my favorite author’s books. You can’t wait to read it, you don’t want to put the book down, and you’re sad when it’s finished.
Nancy, Evan Hunter was the name he used for his literary fiction (The Blackboard Jungle, Strangers When We Meet) but Ed McBain was his handle for money making police procedurals, which far outsold his other work. Seems like he had the best of both worlds.