“Be passionate, be picky, have enough self-criticism to demand of yourself your best and not sort of let it slide by. And remember that the greatest defect any piece of fiction can have is not to be finished.”

A Girl's World interview (2006)
Context: Don't worry about that depressing old dictum "Write what you know". If you need to know something, look it up. Learn how to find out what you need to know to make it right. Be passionate, be picky, have enough self-criticism to demand of yourself your best and not sort of let it slide by. And remember that the greatest defect any piece of fiction can have is not to be finished.

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Be passionate, be picky, have enough self-criticism to demand of yourself your best and not sort of let it slide by. An…" by Lois McMaster Bujold?
Lois McMaster Bujold photo
Lois McMaster Bujold 383
Science Fiction and fantasy author from the USA 1949

Related quotes

D.H. Lawrence photo
Don Marquis photo

“The best good that you can possibly achieve is not good enough if you have to strain yourself all the time to reach it.”

Don Marquis (1878–1937) American writer

The Almost Perfect State (1921)
Context: The best good that you can possibly achieve is not good enough if you have to strain yourself all the time to reach it. A thing is only worth doing, and doing again and again, if you can do it rather easily, and get some joy out of it.
Do the best you can, without straining yourself too much and too continuously, and leave the rest to God. If you strain yourself too much you'll have to ask God to patch you up. And for all you know, patching you up may take time that it was planned to use some other way.
BUT... overstrain yourself now and then. For this reason: The things you create easily and joyously will not continue to come easily and joyously unless you yourself are getting bigger all the time. And when you overstrain yourself you are assisting in the creation of a new self — if you get what we mean.

Penn Jillette photo
Richard Bach photo

“Your greatest ministry innovation could come from your greatest limitation - if you have a sincere passion to reach and care for people.”

Craig Groeschel (1967) American priest

It – How Churches and Leaders Can Get It and Keep It (2008, Zondervan)

Natalie Goldberg photo

“After you have finished a piece of work, the work is then none of your business. Go on and do something else.”

Natalie Goldberg (1948) American writer

Source: Wild Mind: Living the Writer's Life

Elia M. Ramollah photo

“Never start from zero. Always start from where the greatest have finished. Your starting point should be the finishing point of the others.”

Elia M. Ramollah (1973) founder and leader of the El Yasin Community

The Great Master of Thought (Amen- Vol.3), Observing management

Doris Lessing photo

“What they [critics of Lessing's switch to science fiction] didn't realize was that in science fiction is some of the best social fiction of our time.”

Doris Lessing (1919–2013) British novelist, poet, playwright, librettist, biographer and short story writer

Boston Book Review interview by Harvey Blume http://www.dorislessing.org/boston.html (February 1998)

Related topics