“I want to be the most famous writer alive and the greatest writer ever.” T. Coraghessan Boyle.
In her chapter “The Personalities of Creative Writers” of the book The Psychology of Creative Writing, Jane Piirto notes “Ambition and its doppelganger, envy, are not unknown among writers…
“Writers need ambition, as do other creative producers, but that ambition often produces horrible feelings of inadequacy and anxiety.
“This may be because of the intimate subject matter of the creative writer – the self or the self, coded. The high rate of rejection that creative writers experience when they try to publish their work may also contribute to the intense feelings of envy paired with intense ambition.”
Piirto includes comments by poet Molly Peacock [photo] about ambition:
“From when I was a little girl I wanted to be an artist, and I said to myself, ‘Somehow I’m getting out of Buffalo, New York.’ I had a drive to get out of that house and that town. That takes ambition, and my ambition is located in that very early desire to succeed.
“I want to be the most famous writer alive and the greatest writer ever.” T. Coraghessan Boyle.
“Writers need ambition, as do other creative producers, but that ambition often produces horrible feelings of inadequacy and anxiety.
“This may be because of the intimate subject matter of the creative writer – the self or the self, coded. The high rate of rejection that creative writers experience when they try to publish their work may also contribute to the intense feelings of envy paired with intense ambition.”
Piirto includes comments by poet Molly Peacock [photo] about ambition:
“From when I was a little girl I wanted to be an artist, and I said to myself, ‘Somehow I’m getting out of Buffalo, New York.’ I had a drive to get out of that house and that town. That takes ambition, and my ambition is located in that very early desire to succeed.
Continued: The Creative Personality: Ambition and Envy
~ ~