One of the things that draws writers to writing is that they can get things right that they got wrong in real life by writing about them.
Tobias WolffI was giving up--being realistic, as people liked to say, meaning the same thing. Being realistic made me feel bitter.
Tobias WolffThere are very few professions in which people just sit down and think hard for five or six hours a day all by themselves. Of course it's why you want to become a writer — because you have the liberty to do that, but once you have the liberty you also have the obligation to do it.
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 Wolff