Junot Diaz on becoming a writer

You see, in my view a writer is a writer not because she writes well and easily, because she has amazing talent, because everything she does is golden. In my view a writer is a writer because even when there is no hope, even when nothing you do shows any sign of promise, you keep writing anyway. Wasn't until that night when I was faced with all those lousy pages that I realized, really realized, what it was exactly that I am.

From the November 2009 issue of Oprah Magazine. And if you don't know, you should know about The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao.