To be a writer you need to see things as they are, and to see things as they are you need a certain basic innocence.
Tobias WolffI teach one semester a year, and this year I'm just teaching one course during that semester, a writing workshop for older students in their late 20s and early 30s, people in our graduate program who are already working on a manuscript and trying to bring it to completion.
Tobias WolffI was giving up--being realistic, as people liked to say, meaning the same thing. Being realistic made me feel bitter.
Tobias WolffIn writing you work toward a result you won't see for years, and can't be sure you'll ever see. It takes stamina and self-mastery and faith. It demands those things of you, then gives them back with a little extra, a surprise to keep you coming. It toughens you and clears your head. I could feel it happening. I was saving my life with every word I wrote, and I knew it.
Tobias Wolff