
“Write a short story every week. It's not possible to write 52 bad short stories in a row.”
The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze (1934), A Cold Day
Context: If you can't write a decent short story because of the cold, write something else. Write anything. Write a long letter to somebody.
“Write a short story every week. It's not possible to write 52 bad short stories in a row.”
“Everybody can write; writers can't do anything else.”
The Complete Neurotic's Notebook (1981), Unclassified
As quoted in his letter to Jan Bialoblocki, written in Zelazowa Wola and dated back to December 24th 1826[citation needed]
“You don't write because you want to say something, you write because you have something to say.”
Notebook E: Epigrams, Wisecracks, and Jokes https://books.google.com/books?id=NIhKY8SpAE4C&q=%22You%20don%27t%20write%20because%20you%20want%20to%20say%20something%3B%20you%20write%20because%20you%27ve%20got%20something%20to%20say.%22&pg=PA123#v=onepage, edited by Edmund Wilson (1945)
Quoted, The Crack-Up (1936)
On her views of writing in “Jamaica Kincaid: Does Truth Have a Tone?” https://www.guernicamag.com/does-truth-have-a-tone/ in Guernica (2013 Jun 17)