"Now is no time to think of what you do not have. Think of what you can do with what there is." ~ Ernest Hemingway
The beauty of writing... and life... is working with what you have, through revision and practice, polishing as you go.
The great Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961) believed in revision. His life was a declarative statement. Rising at 6 a.m., he wrote for 10 hours, often standing, using his manual Underwood typewriter.
"Write the truest sentence you know," he once advised.
Born in Oak Park, Illinois, he was known for a terse, journalistic style of writing and believed in the power of the short sentence. He said, "Eliminate every superfluous word."
Hemingway rewrote the last page of Farewell to Arms (1929) 39 times until satisfied. "My aim is to put down on paper what I see and what I feel in the best and simplest way."
