Alors vous voulez être écrivain/écrivaine ?
date_range 12 Novembre 2020
So you want to be a writer ?
Alors vous voulez être écrivain ?
si cela ne sort pas de vous comme une explosion
en dépit de tout,
n’écrivez pas.
si cela ne vient pas sans sollicitation de
votre cœur et votre esprit et votre bouche
et vos tripes,
n’écrivez pas.
s’il vous faut vous asseoir des heures
à fixer votre écran d’ordinateur
ou plié en deux sur votre machine à écrire
à chercher les mots,
n’écrivez pas.
si vous le faites pour l’argent ou la gloire,
n’écrivez pas.
si vous le faites parce que vous voulez
mettre des femmes dans votre lit,
n’écrivez pas.
s’il vous faut rester assis là
réécrivant encore et encore,
n’écrivez pas.
si c’est déjà difficile rien que d’y penser,
n’écrivez pas.
si vous essayez d’imiter l’écriture de quelqu’un d’autre,
oubliez.
si vous devez attendre que cela rugisse hors de vous,
alors attendez patiemment.
mais si cela ne rugit jamais hors de vous,
alors faites autre chose.
s’il vous faut le lire à votre femme
ou votre compagne ou à votre compagnon
ou vos parents ou qui que ce soit,
vous n’êtes pas prêt.
ne soyez pas comme tant d’écrivains,
ne soyez pas comme ces milliers de
gens qui se targuent d’être écrivains,
ne soyez pas superficiel et ennuyeux et
prétentieux, ne vous consumez pas d’un amour narcissique.
les librairies du monde ont
baillé jusqu’à s’assoupir d’écrivains
comme ceux-là.
n’en rajoutez pas.
n’écrivez pas.
à moins que cela ne sorte
de votre âme comme une fusée,
à moins que rester muet
ne vous rende fou ou
suicidaire ou assassin.
n’écrivez pas.
à moins que le soleil en vous
ne vous brûle les tripes,
n’écrivez pas.
quand le moment viendra,
et si vous avez été choisi,
cela se fera
tout seul et cela continuera
jusqu’à votre mort ou jusqu’à ce que cela meurt en vous.
il n’y a pas d’autre manière
et il n’y en a jamais eu d’autre.
— Charles Bukowski
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.
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.
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