‘Now, the addendum.’ →

Dave Eggers, in a 2000 interview with The Harvard Advocate:

You actually asked me the question: "Are you taking any steps to keep shit real?" I want you always to look back on this time as being a time when those words came out of your mouth.

I don’t agree with everything Eggers says here—his thesis that you shouldn’t criticize something until you’ve produced something similar on your own is ludicrous—but every artist should read this, if only to be inspired to no longer be embarrassed about the connection between making art and making a living. As the Advocate editors point out:

It is all worth reading but gets more salient about halfway through, when Eggers writes, "Now, the addendum."

/via John Roderick