The Reluctant Writer — Funny Anecdotes

The author knows how to laugh at or berate himself, especially, when he quotes Khushwant Singh, “Whatever rubbish I wrote got published.”

Allow me to relate an anecdote about Mark Twain in this connection. A young author once told Mark Twain that he was losing his confidence in his ability to write, “Did you ever get that feeling yourself?” he asked.

“Yes,” replied Twain, “once after I had been writing for nearly 15 years, it suddenly struck me that I did not possess the slightest talent for writing.”

“What did you do then? Did you give up writing?”

“How could I?” replied Twain. “By then I was already famous…”

Credit: Letters to the Editor, K.P. Rangaswamy, Madras. Courtesy: The Hindu.

A portrait of the American writer Mark Twain taken by A. F. Bradley in New York, 1907.

Khushwant Singh, prolific Indian writer, who covered a various range of social topics.