“If you ever want to see something sad, ask a room full of freelance writers about their tax strategies. It's like asking a pack of baby kittens about space travel.”— Choire Sicha, amazon.com
“It's also presumed Emily Dickinson's maid didn't go home and write poems after work. I bet she did.”— Manjula Martin, amazon.com
“The separation of art and commerce, while a noble aim, is in reality to an endeavor akin, in the rarefied and impoverished professional universe where writers actually reside, to the separation of smoking and drinking. A nice thought, but yeah, good luck with that.”— J. Robert Lennon, amazon.com
“I had accrued $50,000 in credit card debt to write that book. The same thing happened later with 'Wild', only I was in deeper debt. So I got that check for 'Torch', and it was gone the next day. I actually paid my credit card bill. Poof!”— Cheryl Strayed, amazon.com
“Writing for free looked like work. It felt like work. But it was the illusion of work, a fun house mirror reflection.”— Nina Maclaughlin, amazon.com
“The dreamy writer's life I had envisioned in graduate school, crafted by borrowing my more experienced classmates' lofty expectations as well as my tuition funds, seemed inevitable. Six months later, my novel had been rejected by what seemed like every editor in New York City, I was being paid less…”— Julia Fierro, amazon.com
“Don’t stand around too long having conversations about it. Do it. Refine it. Do it more. Try it a different way. Keep at it until you break through to the next level.”— Ryan McGinley, ryanmcginley.com
“The only problem was, Church, even the Catholic Church, didn't take up the whole of your life No matter how much you knelt and prayed, you still had to eat three meals a day and have a job and live in the world.”— Sylvia Plath, amazon.com
“You’re like a grey sky. You’re beautiful, even though you don’t want to be.”— Jasmine Warga, amazon.com
“In what I've seen happen so far, the good usually wins. That's why I'm not afraid of a Trump presidency.”— Chance The Rapper, amazon.com
“I don't understand why dudes think loving a chick is wack. Like who do you expect to hold you down forever? Your homeboys? Lmao.”— Donald Glover, twitter.com
“Fusion told me and many other staff to "side with the audience." Which they clarified as young people being liberal or left leaning so that's the angle we take regardless of the facts. It was not a fun time.”— Tim Pool, reddit.com
“Why didn’t it happen between us? Why did I fail? Why did you come close enough… and not closer?”— Tennessee Williams, amazon.com
“A dog is a perfect being who knows only unconditional love, and happiness, and kindness. A dog's view of you is a good thing to live up to.”— Chelsea Fagan, twitter.com
“Have sex a few times and you quickly learn: The person you’re banging is just another human, like you.”— Kate Sloan, theestablishment.co