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About this quote

What does it mean?
Heinlein advises keeping writing private and treating it as a minor activity not worth public pride.
In plain terms
Write in private and do not make a big deal out of it.
What can you take from it?
Keep writing private and modest.

Where it applies

  • creative work
  • personal practice
  • professional advice

Putting it to work

  • focusing on craft
  • maintaining privacy
  • avoiding vanity

Questions to consider

  • Should writing be private?
  • What value does sharing add?

Another view

Many writers benefit from sharing work publicly for feedback.

More from Robert A. Heinlein

  1. Whenever women have insisted on absolute equality with men, they have invariably wound up with the dirty end of the stick. What they are and what they can do m…

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  2. You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on having both at once.

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  3. When the need arises - and it does - you must be able to shoot your own dog. Don't farm it out - that doesn't make it nicer, it makes it worse.

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