Ursula K. Le Guin (1929) schrijft dat ze de kracht en het uithoudingsvermogen ontbeert om fictie te schrijven en les te geven, maar ze mist het plezier van beide, daarom beantwoordt ze vragen erover. Ik heb harde adviezen nodig, snak naar wijsheid die komt met de jaren.
But alas, there are no recipes. […] What’s the use of a great recipe for soufflé if you’re making blintzes? […] The hell with soufflé, stick to your blintzes. […] Making anything well involves a commitment to the work. And that requires courage: you have to trust yourself. […] And then, once in a while, none of that sweat and trial and error and risk-taking is necessary. Something just comes to you as you write. You write it down, it’s there, it’s really good. You look at it unbelieving. Did I do that? […] I think that kind of gift mostly comes as the pay-off for trying, patiently, repeatedly, to make something well.