"I enjoy writing, sometimes; I think that most writers will tell you about the agony of writing more than the joy of writing, but writing is what I was meant to do"
About this Quote
Uris gives you the unromantic version of the vocation myth: writing isn’t a fountain of inspiration, it’s a bruise you keep pressing because it proves you’re alive. The line opens with a shrug - "sometimes" - immediately puncturing the Hallmark idea that artists are powered by constant joy. That small qualifier does a lot of work. It signals self-knowledge, a refusal to posture, and it quietly courts trust: he’s not selling you an aesthetic lifestyle, he’s admitting to a grind.
The pivot to "agony" isn’t melodrama so much as trade talk. Writers, he suggests, bond through complaint because the suffering is the most consistent part of the process: the doubt, the isolation, the slow assembly of meaning from blank space. By framing this as what "most writers" will tell you, Uris makes pain communal, almost professional. It’s not personal weakness; it’s the job description.
Then he lands the real claim: "writing is what I was meant to do". That phrase smuggles in destiny, but not the glamorous kind. It’s a justification for endurance. If the work hurts and you still return to it, the only explanation that satisfies is purpose. Coming from a novelist known for big, historically freighted narratives and page-turning momentum, the subtext is also about obligation to story - to witness, to translate collective trauma into plot and character. Joy becomes incidental. Meaning becomes the paycheck.
The pivot to "agony" isn’t melodrama so much as trade talk. Writers, he suggests, bond through complaint because the suffering is the most consistent part of the process: the doubt, the isolation, the slow assembly of meaning from blank space. By framing this as what "most writers" will tell you, Uris makes pain communal, almost professional. It’s not personal weakness; it’s the job description.
Then he lands the real claim: "writing is what I was meant to do". That phrase smuggles in destiny, but not the glamorous kind. It’s a justification for endurance. If the work hurts and you still return to it, the only explanation that satisfies is purpose. Coming from a novelist known for big, historically freighted narratives and page-turning momentum, the subtext is also about obligation to story - to witness, to translate collective trauma into plot and character. Joy becomes incidental. Meaning becomes the paycheck.
Quote Details
| Topic | Writing |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
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