Pat Conroy on being a writer

Pat Conroy writes in My Losing Season about what he envisioned being a writer would look like, when he was still a college student considering writing as a career. From the self-confidence he developed as a starting point guard for the Citadel, he learned that like the point guard, the "novelist needs a strong ego, a sense of arrogance, complete knowledge of tempo and control of the court."

"A writer must notice everything; experience life more deeply and spiritually than anyone else; and let every cell of his body take in every stimulus that comes along. I wanted to develop a curiosity that was oceanic and insatiable, as well as a desire to learn and use every word in the English language that didn't sound pretentious or ditsy. I would write about everything that hurt or touched me or bedazzled me. A writer, like a point guard, is not allowed to show fear. I ordered myself to be brave. I had to turn the writer's eye inward to find the gargoyles and stunted trolls that ate me alive."