>Promised myself when I first started college that I'd

>>8166990
>hard work and constant practice
>is only 23
A lot of writers don't even publish first books until their 30s and 40s.

Consider yourself lucky OP, Borges realized that a writer isn't bound to publish when he was almost dead.

>>8167012

Where does he said that?

I'm very interested in this

>>8166999

Naw, I'm going to be behind the curve in a couple of years if I don't get something published fast.

Carson McCullers published "The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter" at 23

Jane Austen wrote "Sense and Sensibility" at 19

Scott Fitzgerald published "This Side of Paradise" at 24

Maugham published "Liza of Lambeth" at 23

Anton Chekhov wrote "The Shooting Party" at 24

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Is this thing of comparing to other writers and the year of their first publication a illness of our time?

I lived with that thought (be published before 25 more or less) a lot of time, but i dropped it, not only because i want my time to do the things i love, but because this idea of rushing art is a contemporary illness which goes along with other changings of this society

I think that great writers like Dostoievski, Borges, Kafka, Camus weren't worried about their age at the time of publishing

>>8167053
>Is this thing of comparing to other writers and the year of their first publication a illness of our time?

Perhaps if you read a book every now and then, you'd know this has been going on for as long as there have been great men to look up to.

>"To which Caesar made answer seriously, 'For my part, I had rather be the first man among these fellows, than the second man in Rome.' It is said that another time, when free from business in Spain, after reading some part of the history of Alexander, he sat a great while very thoughtful, and at last burst out into tears. His friends were surprised, and asked him the reason of it. 'Do you think,' said he, 'I have not just cause to weep, when I consider that Alexander at my age had conquered so many nations, and I have all this time done nothing that is memorable?'"

- Plutarch

It's not just "hard work and practice." You also need to be interesting. You need to have interesting thoughts, a highly cultivated and personal aesthetic sensibility, and strong creative impulse.

The most important thing is not to practice writing, but to practice reading. Ultimately, how well you write is going to be a product of how well you read.

>>8167087

>need
>highly
>sensibility

How pretentious

>>8167121
>pretentious
buzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
zzzzzz
zzzzzzzzzzz
zzbzzzzzzbzbzbz----buzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
zzzzbzzbzbzbzbzbzzzzzzzzz
bzzzzzzzzz----buzzzzzzzzzzzbzzzzzbzbzbz
----buzzzzzzzzzzz---buzzzzz

thank you for playing, make an actual argument next time

>>8167135

How obnoxiously pretentious

OP, I've been where you've been. I've been unpublished in my twenties. It is, as you already know, an awful feeling. You think you're a failure. You think the world has passed you by and that you are so obsolete that all the earth may turn about and leave you just a rotten molten husk with nothing left to recommend it.

But this isn't true. If you are a writer at all you have something to say. You should keep on believing in your ability. You should believe you have something worthwhile to say.

Are you bit by the itch, the bug-bite? Do you CRAVE greatness, do you lust after immortality? If you do, good! You should keep going. Keep going and don't stop. You'll meet your fellow geniuses in the Elysian Fields. Don't be afraid to dream hugely and dare greatly. Only those who dream big achieve big.

>>8167053
tecnology, will not be, and isnt, as friendly as before

>>8167020

I was wrong in my statement. Regardless, I hope you can read Spanish.

http://cultura.elpais.com/cultura/2016/06/14/actualidad/1465900278_877505.html

Third question and answer.

>>8167087

I agree completely, I often say these same things when the question is brought up. Lots of mediocre writers are just idea-guy types that rely entirely on the originality of some inspiration that came up and sounds groundbreaking, only to fall flat and struggle to find a proper continuation.

here's a bit of advice from someone who's almost 23 and has been chasing it awhile,

don't think so much about publishing, find the pieces you can write that you believe in and chase them, and when they're ready all you have to do is figure out where to place them

>>8167027
Henry Miller, 44

Bram Stoker, 50

George Eliot, 40

William S. Burroughs, 40

Sherwood Anderson, 50

Richard Adams, 52

Cormac McCarthy, 32

William Faulkner, 29

>>8166990
it is a lifelong pursuit. if being successful at a young age is really important you are just being a fag famewhore who wants a writer/intelletual identity

also- a benefit of thinking of it as a lifelong pursuit is you can just keep shitposting and jacking off

Good luck

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Don't feel bad m8. I'm going to be an absolute terror in philosophy, and my first book won't come out until I'm 25.

>>8167295

What a waste

I have trouble seeing why they'd even want success at that age, it's just wasted on them. They can't enjoy it the same way a 20 year old would