"Understand, I had absolutely no interest in writing; I wanted to be a Writer"
About this Quote
DiCamillo’s line lands like a confession and a roast in the same breath: she wasn’t drawn to the messy act, she was drawn to the identity. The capital-W “Writer” is doing most of the work here, naming the glamorous silhouette people chase - the jacket photo, the aura of meaning, the permission to be “creative” - while quietly dodging the slog that earns it. It’s funny because it’s precise; it punctures a cultural fantasy with a single typographic flick.
The intent is less self-deprecation than a diagnostic. She’s describing a common ambition shaped by how art gets marketed: we’re sold authorship as a persona, not as a practice. “Absolutely no interest in writing” is deliberately extreme, a way of separating desire from discipline. The subtext is bracingly honest: wanting the badge is not the same as wanting the work, and confusing the two is how a lot of dreams die in the drawer.
Context matters with DiCamillo: a beloved children’s novelist whose books feel effortless on the page, even though children’s literature is famously unforgiving - every sentence has to earn its keep. Coming from someone who did, in fact, become a working writer, the line also functions as permission. You don’t have to begin with pure, monk-like devotion to craft. You can begin with vanity, longing, or a storybook idea of yourself, and still grow into the daily labor. The joke is the hook; the grit is the message.
The intent is less self-deprecation than a diagnostic. She’s describing a common ambition shaped by how art gets marketed: we’re sold authorship as a persona, not as a practice. “Absolutely no interest in writing” is deliberately extreme, a way of separating desire from discipline. The subtext is bracingly honest: wanting the badge is not the same as wanting the work, and confusing the two is how a lot of dreams die in the drawer.
Context matters with DiCamillo: a beloved children’s novelist whose books feel effortless on the page, even though children’s literature is famously unforgiving - every sentence has to earn its keep. Coming from someone who did, in fact, become a working writer, the line also functions as permission. You don’t have to begin with pure, monk-like devotion to craft. You can begin with vanity, longing, or a storybook idea of yourself, and still grow into the daily labor. The joke is the hook; the grit is the message.
Quote Details
| Topic | Writing |
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