so you want to be a writer

soupsoup:

thesaurus:

if it doesn’t come bursting out of you
in spite of everything,
don’t do it.
unless it comes unasked out of your
heart and your mind and your mouth
and your gut,
don’t do it.
if you have to sit for hours
staring at your computer screen
or hunched over your
typewriter
searching for words,
don’t do it.
if you’re doing it for money or
fame,
don’t do it.
if you’re doing it because you want
women in your bed,
don’t do it.
if you have to sit there and
rewrite it again and again,
don’t do it.
if it’s hard work just thinking about doing it,
don’t do it.
if you’re trying to write like somebody
else,
forget about it.
if you have to wait for it to roar out of
you,
then wait patiently.
if it never does roar out of you,
do something else.

if you first have to read it to your wife
or your girlfriend or your boyfriend
or your parents or to anybody at all,
you’re not ready.

don’t be like so many writers,
don’t be like so many thousands of
people who call themselves writers,
don’t be dull and boring and
pretentious, don’t be consumed with self-
love.
the libraries of the world have
yawned themselves to
sleep
over your kind.
don’t add to that.
don’t do it.
unless it comes out of
your soul like a rocket,
unless being still would
drive you to madness or
suicide or murder,
don’t do it.
unless the sun inside you is
burning your gut,
don’t do it.

when it is truly time,
and if you have been chosen,
it will do it by
itself and it will keep on doing it
until you die or it dies in you.

there is no other way.

and there never was.

— Bukowski

I’m still waiting for the muse.

Source: olerud

70 Notes/ Hide

  1. mydulcevita reblogged this from anaideia
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  10. oh-christine reblogged this from randominternet and added:
    if it doesn’t come bursting out of you in spite of everything, don’t do it. unless it comes unasked out of your heart...
  11. kickoverthewall reblogged this from randominternet
  12. rafureissa reblogged this from anaideia
  13. jazalove reblogged this from olerud
  14. halfway-through reblogged this from istealpens
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  16. flyingfish reblogged this from thelighthouseisanaccident
  17. niennakins reblogged this from unicornology
  18. wordplay reblogged this from unicornology and added:
    EL OH EL this is mostly ridiculous, except for the part where it tells you that you shouldn’t write to get laid (doesn’t...
  19. particular reblogged this from courts and added:
    dementes:miss-r:
  20. courts reblogged this from dementes
  21. dementes reblogged this from rachelhills
  22. justlearning reblogged this from olerud
  23. veiledyellow reblogged this from unicornology and added:
    if it doesn’t come bursting out of you in spite of everything, don’t do it. unless it comes unasked out of your heart...
  24. lanz-angel reblogged this from unicornology
  25. spittle reblogged this from unicornology and added:
    AHHH! I haven’t seen this poem in years- I wrote it on my presentation board for the mentorship program I did with Dr....
  26. killingbambi reblogged this from anaideia
  27. randominternet reblogged this from olerud
  28. littledip reblogged this from unicornology
  29. in-candescent reblogged this from unicornology
  30. someweretricksters reblogged this from unicornology and added:
    if it doesn’t come bursting out of you in spite of everything, don’t do it. unless it comes unasked out of your heart...
  31. brokenbits reblogged this from soupsoup
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  34. vaughnshirley reblogged this from olerud
  35. risu reblogged this from glitterati and added:
    I wonder if this is the same bukowski that i know..
  36. glitterati reblogged this from soupsoup
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  38. anaideia reblogged this from olerud
  39. emes reblogged this from soupsoup and added:
    I do like this, but I feel a little bit like some parts will be most appealing to the people who the poem is against....