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Every claim below was made in this piece, quoted word for word and numbered in the order the piece makes them, so you can read it there rather than take our word for it. The sentence above each quote is our reading of the claim, not their wording. Each quote was checked against a stored copy of the page at build time; where the two differ, the quote is the fact.
Their wordsWriting a novel belongs to that category of thing—like surviving the Hunger Games, and eating an entire garlic pizza by yourself—that appears to be impossible but actually isn’t.
Our reading
Being a novelist is a matter of keeping at it day after day, not of genius breakthroughs.
Their wordsBeing a novelist is a matter of keeping at it, day after day, just putting words after other words.
Their wordsThe number one reason why people who want to write novels don’t is not that it’s impossible, and it’s not that they’re not geniuses, it’s that they lose their nerve and quit.
Their wordsA lousy draft proves nothing. Rough drafts are rough—everybody’s are.
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