Use the Hurt

“We are all bitched from the start and you especially have to hurt like hell before you can write seriously. But when you get the damned hurt use it — don’t cheat with it.” — Ernest Hemingway

While we’d all like to think differently, Hemingway in this quote defines a truth of the creative process. I’m sure there are some creatives who haven’t been crushed by life, or bullied by circumstance, but I’d venture to say they are in the minority. The majority of us who create have have felt the weight of destruction at some time and in some place.