As I’ve gotten older, though, I’ve gradually come to the realization that...pain and hurt is a necessary part of life. If you think about it, it’s precisely because people are different from others that they’re able to create their own independent selves. Take me as an example. It’s precisely my ability to detect some aspects of a scene that other ... See more

In the novelist’s profession, as far as I’m concerned, there’s no such thing as winning or losing. Maybe numbers of copies sold, awards won, and critics’ praise serve as outward standards for accomplishment in literature, but none of them really matter. What’s crucial is whether your writing attains the standards you’ve set for yourself. Failure to... See more

The audience reaction is out of your control.

“Everything I do is just personal taste and it’s what [my book The Creative Act] is about. Really, for [people and artists] to trust in themselves. Make something that speaks to themselves. And hopefully someone else will like it. But you can’t second-guess your own taste for what someone else is going to like. It won’t be good. We’re not smart eno... See more

However, Kafka clearly cared about what other people thought of his work because he believed it was terrible and feared that others would also think so. This is why he destroyed 90% of everything he ever wrote (imagine how much "select all + backspace" he would have used on Google Docs).

He did not necessarily seek fame, but he wanted his writing to... See more