A Real Writer Really Said This: The Novelist Richard Price is Intimidated and Likes It

I read this quote in a recent Believer interview with novelist and screenwriter Richard Price:

"I have to be a little intimidated by what I’m writing about. I have to feel a little bit like I don’t think I can do this, I don’t think I can master this, I don’t think I can get under the skin of this, because when you’re a little scared, you’re bringing everything to the table because you’re not sure you can do it unless you . . . really, really get into it. Terror keeps you slender. I need a sense of awe."

He makes a living as a writer and here he is, admitting that being intimidated by his projects (the equivalent of writing assignments) is a positive. A Positive! He likes to be bullied by projects that are menacing, that are like avalanches or rockslides or men with thick necks and enormous, meaty fists. He's like the scrawny underdog in a sports movie who wins in the end because of perseverence and stick-to-it-iveness.