(No, this has nothing to do with my post, really. I just think old wheelchairs are spooky. I saw one in the Mississippi River recently, and boy, did that get my brain wheels spinning.)
"If you’re not scared, you’re not writing. No message in this book is more important. A state of anxiety is the writer’s natural habitat." (Italics are the author’s)
–Ralph Keyes, The Courage to Write (Henry Holt and Company, 1995)
What do you think? Do you agree with that? I think for me, it’s totally untrue. While I do occasionally feel anxiety when working on a project that’s either a form that terrifies me or something that’s more self-relevatory than usual, I don’t agree with this sentiment. I think my best writing comes from a place of joy or intensity or, even better, being so caught up in whatever I’m working on that I’m unaware of myself. I’m lost in it, and I’m not feeling any particular thing because I don’t exist–only the words do.
How about you? Do you think fear or anxiety is necessary for creating good writing?