How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
I started writing a lot in high school: journals, impassioned antiwar pieces, parodies of the writers I loved. And I began to notice something important. The other kids always wanted me to tell them stories of what had happened, even—or especially—when they had been there. Parties that got away from us, blowups in the classroom or on the school yard, scenes involving their parents that we had witnessed—I could make the story happen. I could make it vivid and funny, and even exaggerate some of it so that the event became almost mythical, and the people involved seemed larger, and there was a sense of larger significance, of meaning. (Introduction.19)
That stereotype of the solitary writer? Lamott's not into it. In fact, she finds that writing improves her social life when she's a kid, at least a little bit. That's because her classmates start to look to her to make their stories come alive and show why they matter. Is that the role or identity of the writer in society more generally?
Quote #2
My writer friends, and they are legion, do not go around beaming with quiet feelings of contentment. Most of them go around with haunted, abused, surprised looks on their faces, like lab dogs on whom very personal deodorant sprays have been tested. (Introduction.55)
Okay, so being a writer isn't all winning Pulitzers and being photographed. Writing itself can be stressful, even harrowing (think about your last midterm essay), and that's why lots of writers also describe the unglamorous parts of writing as things that shape of their identity.
Quote #3
But I still encourage anyone who feels at all compelled to write to do so. I just try to warn people who hope to get published that publication is not all that it is cracked up to be. But writing is. Writing has so much to give, so much to teach, so many surprises. That thing you had to force yourself to do—the actual act of writing—turns out to be the best part. It's like discovering that while you thought you needed the tea ceremony for the caffeine, what you really needed was the tea ceremony. The act of writing turns out to be its own reward. (Introduction.44)
Maybe part of being a writer is finding that the parts of the career that shape your identity change. You might start out wanting New York Times bestseller recognition or tons of money, but gradually you find that you're more interested in the deeper things about writing—what it shows you about yourself and your communities, or the insight it gives you.