There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed. Ernest Hemingway

2 thoughts on “There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed. Ernest Hemingway

  1. Christopher Chinchilla says:

    It’s a wonderful sentiment but almost wholly incorrect. Writing is one of the most difficult activities I’ve engaged in. It requires consistent, intensive effort over long periods of time. It requires a writer to believe in his ability as if he were infallible while he writes, and then to switch to his own ruthless critic when he edits and rewrites. It requires enormous self-esteem and clarity of thought. While the act of it seems as if one is bleeding onto the page, it is not *simply* that. After all, whenever we bleed, is there really nothing to it? Certainly Hemingway knew this, but this quote might reveal part of the psychological troubles he suffered that eventually led to his suicide. I do not bleed when I write unless I have a source feeding me with more blood.

  2. Christopher Chinchilla says:

    Reblogged this on Christopher Chinchilla Writes and commented:
    It’s a wonderful sentiment but almost wholly incorrect. Writing is one of the most difficult activities I’ve engaged in. It requires consistent, intensive effort over long periods of time. It requires a writer to believe in his ability as if he were infallible while he writes, and then to switch to his own ruthless critic when he edits and rewrites. It requires enormous self-esteem and clarity of thought. While the act of it seems as if one is bleeding onto the page, it is not *simply* that. After all, whenever we bleed, is there really nothing to it? Certainly Hemingway knew this, but this quote might reveal part of the psychological troubles he suffered that eventually led to his suicide. I do not bleed when I write unless I have a source feeding me with more blood.

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