Carpe Dieum--It's the only way to nab inspiration

My students laughed and said I loved Annie Dillard because I was her. They then produced a photograph to prove it. In that one picture--yes, I did. But no, it's not her face I loved, it was her mind.

In The Writing Life, Dillard says:

“He is careful of what he reads, for that is what he will write. He is careful of what he learns, for that is what he will know.”

“Similarly, the impulse to keep to yourself what you have learned is not only shameful, it is destructive. Anything you do not give freely and abundantly becomes lost to you. You open your safe and find ashes.”

 

“It is no less difficult to write a sentence in a recipe than sentences in Moby Dick. So you might as well write Moby Dick.”

Pilgrim at Tinker Creek tells about a Creator who gives freely--abundantly--who is ineffably profligate with gifts. Shouldn't we aspire to that in our writing?

Which of these quotes most speak to you about your writing journey?