This is the 2nd in a series of guest posts from Thomas E. Kennedy, each focusing on questions that have empowered him - and could also empower you - as a writer.
Q: Must you write?
Thomas E. Kennedy: This is a question that I learned to ask myself from the great Austrian poet R. M. Rilke from his marvellous Letters to a Young Poet (there is a photograph of Marilyn Monroe reading it by the way).
What Rilke said to the young poet he was mentoring was, ask yourself, 'Must I write?'
If your answer is no, you have gained important self-knowledge; if you are able to quit writing, perhaps you should seriously consider doing so.
But if your answer is yes, then that matter is settled and you don’t have to waste time agonising over it. You cannot quit - writing is too important to you.
What do you think, can you quit writing?
Thomas E. Kennedy is the author of eight novels, as well as several collections of short stories and essays. He teaches creative writing at Fairleigh Dickinson University.
In the Company of Angels, published by Bloomsbury in June 2010, is one of four novels comprising the Copenhagen Quartet. It is the first of Kennedy’s books to be published in the UK.
Read Thomas E. Kennedy's first guest post, When do you become a writer?
Click to visit the official website of Thomas E. Kennedy
I asked myself that question and the answer I get is 'yes'.
When I think of my future I cannot see how I exist if I'm not writing.
That may not make sense to some people, but what I meant is; if you try to think of something that your mind cannot comprehend then it draws a blank and when I try to think of a future; my future, where I'm not writing, well it's incomprehensible to me!
I've never even asked that question. Even when the vastness of my first novel, which was trimmed down to 14 potential ones confronted me.
Writers don't have to write for need. Sometimes it is just their choice. They could be doing other things as well and still be writing. Life is vast. We should accomplish as much as we can.